Councilman Williams update 10/7/26
Town Manager updates, CIP project funding, Menhaden fish conservation resolution, nuisance ordinance and museum/community garden lease renewals were all on Wednesday’s agenda.
Approval of Minutes: September 19, 2026 - vote 7-0
Resolution #37-26, amends and Appropriates FY26-27 Budget, General Fund - This was to re-appropriate 122K in funds appropriate for police vehicles. Apparently, the vehicles were on back order and could not be purchased in FY26.
Council Member Announcements
Parks and Rec - Halloween decoration contest, national night out, and other events announced.
Planning Commission - a number of permits were issued and the average wait was 13.7 days.
Schools – homecoming week starts Friday with the parade.
Finance – no announcement, but Mr. Larson did mention CB App.
Public safety – National Night Out Tuesday October 13th from 5PM to 8PM representative from police rescue and fire will be there along with other activities. Neighborhood watch October 22 6:30PM. Used prescription medications can be dropped off for disposal October 24th 9 AM to 2 PM. Bike Fest this weekend. Be safe!
Economic development – Tourism committee is a bike fest sponsor. The fall business breakfast for October was announced.
Non-governmental – BAMM is sponsoring a golf cart bash. There will be an after party at the Icehouse Brewery.
Public Works – mentioned the homecoming parade at 4:30 on Friday and that the schools were fully accredited distinguished. There were a number of repairs and other projects worked on, including inflow and infiltration. The zoning office will undergo a rehab.
Mayor - also mentioned the CB guide app, the freedom ride on Friday and the annual mayors conference coming up.
Town Manager Update
Broadband Update, Sarah Sullivan, The Broadband Council - the broadband council is a nonprofit dedicated to helping communities gain access to better Internet service. In 2024 a small survey was done determining that there was a need to have our broadband access further investigated. In 2024 council approved having the broadband council move ahead with pursuing funding opportunities, but the federal government froze broadband funding in 2025. Virginia state government recently made $500M in funding available. The new focus for the government is underserved areas with telehealth being one of those meters. The broad band Council and Town have decided to move forward with investigating service with the ultimate goal of obtaining grant funds.
Sewer Plant Update, John Simmons, Inboden Environmental Services -
September was a good month. A rain event caused minor issues with some inflow and infiltration. Improvements have been noticed. Don’t see future issues with DEQ compliance. 4 flow meters have been replaced. All solids have been removed so time to reevaluate. A manhole on Bancroft was relined which should have a major impact. 90% of the lines in Colonial Beach have been camera surveyed so that info is being used in combination with the Bowman report as a guide.
Years of Service
o Matthew Heise - 5 Years, Public Works - congrats!
o Juan P. Aranda - 10 Years, Public Works - congrats!
Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors, Mr. Trivett, District V Supervisor - a major carrier company in Westmoreland County is closing resulting in 172 job losses. County recently did RFP looking into possibly selling their water and sewer service. Their October meeting was moved to the 14th. I told Mr. Trivett I had a constituent looking for the agreement approving additional Shellfield sewer connections with the county and I asked if Mr. Trivett could provide a copy of the agreement. He said certainly he will find it and send it to me shortly.
Blake Byrd, Deputy County Administrator & Robyn Manthey, Chief of Emergency Services - Mr. Byrd has taken on a new role with the county as the deputy administrator. He said he will still be here to support.
2026 Emergency Operations Plan - We were given a quick overview of their new emergency plan which has been published and the good news is there’s now an agreement with Colonial Beach Schools for emergency sheltering.
Proclamations
o Community Planning Month - Read by Mr. Wood.
o Halloween - Read by Mayor
CIP Prioritization, Ted Cole, Davenport Financial Services General Fund - We were given a lengthy overview of the capital projects budget, and we were presented with various funding options for the FY27 “required” projects. I put required in quotes because to me required means must do when in reality Dwight extension is not required, it’s a shiny thing certain people want and we don’t even know who will financially benefit from this project. The 3 options Davenport presented were cash funding, debt with cash funding and all debt funding. We have $1.4M in the CIP budget due to the new policy enacted by council. The required projects were $1.04M so there was enough cash on hand to fund them. We were also told we have debt capacity, which may not translate to debt affordability. Additional debt funding options would require tax increases. The “required” FY27 projects identified by Council and staff in our August meeting were Sidewalks (ADA violations) $160k, Dwight Ave Extension $327k, emergency radios $348k and the North Beach erosion project (grant funded).
At the end of the presentations, Mr. Wood made a motion to take debt off the table and fund the required projects with cash only. The Mayor pointed out we could hold the vote at our next meeting vs rushing it. I was all for taking debt off the table but in hindsight probably should have supported postponing for a formal resolution with separate votes so we could have voted on projects separately (I’m not sure why the majority of council thinks a new road is a higher priority over repairing rotting drinking water pipes). I did ask Davenport to clarify if by extending the $1.5M Dwight project over 8 years it was considered debt and they said they were unsure. The final vote was 7-0. I reluctantly voted yes only because of the no debt option and understanding I was not able to stop the Dwight project. I hope in the future Councils take transparency and prioritization for CIP projects more seriously (sticky notes and dots don’t count).
CIP Prioritization, Ted Cole, Davenport Financial Services water sewer Fund - these funds are a bit different because they are enterprise funds and need to be run independently of the general budget. We were told while our budget is somewhat conservative, we will need additional revenue in the future. The “required” CIP projects over the next five years are $7.9M plus $1.2M optional. We were given similar options to the general fund, including debt and cash funding. Council did not take any action on the water sewer CIP funds.
Public Comment
Citizen - Marina Way showcase will be October 17-18th. CIP approval, please post. Consider management of the projects. Interested in the public nuisance hearing.
Citizen - shared positive staff interactions. Adam volunteered for the economic development committee.
Citizen - Downtown Colonial Beach Director mentioned $50K Grant for state Way finding and two golf carts (one replacing the boardwalk cart)
PUBLIC HEARING Resolution#35-26, Approval of Lease for Real Property known as Colonial Beach Museum, Powell Duggan, Town Attorney
o Public Comment - four people spoke in favor of the lease. A member of the historical Society gave a great overview of the rich history of the museum building. Some of the comments suggested extending the lease exit notification.
Council was all in support of the five-year extension and voted to increase the 60-day termination clause to 12 months. Vote 7-0
PUBLIC HEARING Resolution #36-26, Approval of Lease for Real Property known as Colonial Beach Community Garden, Powell Duggan, Town Attorney - several citizens spoke in favor of extending this lease also, vote to approve was 7–0.
PUBLIC HEARING Ordinance No. 786, Amends Chapter 15 (Nuisances) of the Town of Colonial Beach Code of Ordinances, Powell Duggan, Town Attorney - attorney gave us an overview with the primary suggested changes being alignment with Virginia code and incorporating fines versus misdemeanors.
Citizen - Stated that Teresa Davis the prior code enforcement officer was very aggressive at enforcement and now we’ve gone the opposite direction which is not good. The building code enforcement should be looked at. Dilapidated buildings are a detriment to the town.
Citizen - We need to figure out the collaboration piece. Need to push forward. The financial piece has been ignored. Need to collaborate with the county.
Council discussed some of the aspects listed below.
I asked why the language in several parts of the code referenced the town manager or designee vs code enforcement person or designee of the town manager. In my opinion the town manager should not be listed as the primary code enforcement officer but that suggestion was met with significant pushback and one council member got very agitated, raising his voice in strong opposition. He even suggested that the town manager is all positions in town so if somebody is not in a position, it automatically defaults to her as that job title. I disagreed because there needs to be separation of duties. Mrs. Grandstaff said didn’t the town manager recently act as the Police Chief and the answer was no which seemed to back up my point but my motion failed 6-1. I also raised the question as to whether the code would actually will be enforced because that seems to be the main concern from our constituents.
In the end council agreed to add fines versus misdemeanors and change the total construction debris accumulation from 5 yards to 3 yards. Final vote 7-0 to pass
Resolution #38-26, Support of Stronger Conservation and Management of Atlantic Menhaden in Chesapeake Bay, Virginia Osprey Foundation Inc. - per council’s request we were presented with a resolution for stronger conservation and management of Atlantic Menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay. Numerous other localities are passing similar resolutions to prevent the overfishing of Menhaden, which has caused significant environmental impacts. Several citizens spoken in favor of this resolution and Council all supported it. Final vote 7–0.
Closed Meeting
a. Pursuant to Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711 (A. 8.) for the purpose of consultation with legal counsel retained by the Town Council regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel.
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