Councilman Williams Update 2/4/26

Council member updates, The cash funding vs debt funding of equipment, Setting a public hearing for 100-foot communications towers being allowed in commercial zoning and Assigning signature authority were all items on Wednesdays work session agenda.

Meeting Minutes – January 21, 2026 - Vote to approve 7-0 

Council Member Liaison Reports -

I posted the new liaison roles in my January 21st blog

Parks and Rec - the voluntary recruiting event was successful. Several events coming up.

Planning Commission - a number of permits were issued with the average taking 16 days. The PC office is currently open five days a week. They voted 6 to 1 for the text amendment allowing 100-foot communication towers in commercial zoning. February 12th there will be a CIP Capital Improvement Plan hearing.

Schools - There will be a school board meeting next week and they will be starting on their budget in early March.

Finance - delinquent notices have been sent out, please reach out if you need help with your utility bills.

Public Safety - I reached out to the town manager and police chief and was told that school crossing guards are the school’s responsibility and the PD does not train them.  The town manager did say that they put in a crossing guard in last year ‘s budget request in order to help the schools, but it was not funded.  Last week‘s meeting with the state investigators over the traffic stop incident was delayed until February 13. There are currently two vacancies at the police department.  The town manager is working on community confidence in the Police Department which has been diminished since the traffic stop incident.

Economic Development - Kelly Vaughn is the new chair for the economic vitality committee. The new tourism committee is working on promoting tourism. Example “Discover CB”. 

Non-governmental – no updates, kudos to public works.

Public Works – they performed storm preparation and staging. They experienced 24 minor equipment issues, but resolved them quickly.

Mayor - Peddlers Market ribbon cutting had over 100 participants. Asked CB volunteer rescue squad life members to help resolve the current issues. Transfer service is back up.

Proclamation, Honoring Black History Month - Read by Mayor 

Proclamation, Celebrating 134th Years of the Town of Colonial Beach’s

Incorporation - Read by Mayor 

Public Comment - 

Citizen- complemented public works. Stated he was a member of the election board and April 12. Vote on redistricting is currently up in the air since under appeal.  May need to use town center if that vote happens because the school will be under construction.

Consideration of Financing Utility Vehicles and Equipment, Ted Cole, Davenport Financial Services - This was about the discussion we’ve been having regarding how to fund the purchase of a trash truck, tractor and beach rake and utility vehicle and plow totaling $670k total.  Council has had numerous discussions on the need of these items so that was not part of Wednesday’s discussion.  After Devonport gave us three final options which included two debt funding options or cash funding.  I was personally against taking on additional debt for equipment purchases so I made a motion to cash fund. Mrs. Sanford seconded the motion.  Mr. Wood stated he did not see any compelling reason to take on this additional debt. Mr. Larson thought it was a good idea to borrow the money. Mrs. Grandstaff stated she did not support the debt financing.  Mayor stated we were paying good money to Davenport to provide the debt financing options and thanked them for their hard work. I stated there were various reasons why I did not support taking on additional debt which included the fact that we already collected money for the trash truck through the trash tax, borrowing on vehicles over a 10-year period is not a good idea, and spending over $120K to finance is money better spent elsewhere. The final vote was 5-2 with Allison and Larson voting no and Sanford, Wood, Grandstaff, Schick and Williams voting yes.

Authorize Advertisement for a Public Hearing: Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA 26-01-Amends Section 8-2 to include “Communications Facility, not to exceed a height of 100 feet” as a permitted with approval of Conditional Use within the (C-1) Zoning District, Angela Lawrence, Director of Community Development & Zoning - This is to advertise a public hearing to allow a communications facility/radio towers not to exceed 100 feet in commercial zoning with a conditional use permit. The Planning Commission already had a public hearing and voted to approve 6–1.  I raised some concerns such as why is this being rushed through, what are the impacts example brought up by constituents such as noise, radiation, advertising on tower.  Apparently, the town already has one application for McKinney Boulevard and New Monrovia Road.  I stated this was similar to the food truck court application the town received years ago and immediately advertised amending the zoning to allow.  I voted no to hold the public hearing on February 18th because I felt like this was being rushed through. Vote 6–1.

The question is do you want to allow towers in town or not.  This is the time to speak up because once added to the zoning a public hearing could be added at any time for this with very minimal notice. 

Resolution #10-26, Appointing the Official Custodian of Bank Accounts, Lisa Okes, Director of Finance/CFO - FDIC regulations require government banks to have a designated official custodian. This vote was to make the town CFO Lisa Okes that custodian. Vote 7–0.

Resolution #11-26, Authorization for Signature Cards for the Main Checking Bank Account, Lisa Okes, Director of Finance/CFO - Michelle Payne resigned from the school board so this was to add school board member Audra Lucas–Peyton to the main school checking account. Vote 7–0.

Additional updates – During our strategic planning meeting council directed the town clerk to have draft Agendas posted to the public the Wednesday before the meeting and the final draft by Friday before the meeting.   A citizen had brought this up at a prior meeting and this is something that I have supported for quite some time so I was glad to see Mr. Larson pushing to help make this happen.

One of the discussions during our strategic planning meeting was my concern over the town, not having a professional plan for Beach preservation/restoration. Mr. Wood challenged me to help come up with a plan so I will be working on that. If any citizens have feedback on that process please reach out.

Councilman David Williams

Please email or call with questions or comments:

dwilliams@colonialbeachva.gov

540-604-4335