Councilman Williams Update 3/18/26

Town manager updates, School and County updates, Downtown CB report, Economic Development Report, Public hearing set for Fire Department building request, Budget discussion (with adjusted water/sewer increase proposal) and Beach erosion planning update were all on Wednesday’s agenda.

All members were present, but Mr. Allison was 30 minutes late. 

I requested to amend the agenda to add an update on the Beach erosion planning which was approved 6-0

Approval of Meeting Minutes: February 18, 2026, and March 4, 2026 - vote 6-0

Council Member Reports

Parks and Rec - Azalea Park opening soon.  Mentioned several classes being planned and several events including: coffee walk, Osprey Festival and kite flying event.

Planning Commission - at their last meeting they reviewed the telecommunications tower information, fire department building request, and approved the joint Tower hearing for April 9th.

Finance – Water/ Sewer bills are due April 1 and business license will be due in May.

School - Presenting their FY27 budget and held collaboration meeting.

Public Safety - New Officer Bryan Tinder finished his training and ranked very high in his class. Jersey Mikes fund raiser March 25th.  Next Neighborhood watch 26th 5:30p (topic DUI enforcement). 2 new officers and parking enforcement/ crossing guard in hiring process.  

Economic Development - the economic vitality meeting was 17th. Business networking meeting will be May 14 at the Ice House Brewery.  Mentioned business efforts underway.

Non-Governmental - Osprey Festival April 11th. Meet and greet and other events coming. 

Mayor – Reminder our April work session was canceled but we will have a joint hearing with the Planning Commission April 9th at 6pm. Excited that Sand Lot is being used (first game Sat). Fireworks July 3rd again this year. Discussions underway for the Carnival to come back.  CB Foundation is taking car donations.

Town Manager Update

North Beach - RFP request for proposal process is complete and the town has hired Kimley Horn to begin engineering design.

Sewer Plant Update, John Simmons, Inboden - things are going well other than extra flow during the rain, snow events, and some elevated numbers. There are some ongoing repairs due to equipment failures.

Police Department Update, Chief Parsons - the internal investigation regarding the traffic stop incident has been completed and the report submitted. We should have an update during our April meeting.

Economic Development & Tourism Update - Ms. Cole did a report on the towns, economic development activities.  She mentioned that the historic district had 81 structures, discussed the importance of tourism and financial impacts to the town. She also listed shortcomings. The town is working on some marketing improvements, including revamping our website and VA 250 efforts.  I asked if there was anything we were doing to provide tourist with activities. She stated that was something that was being worked on. The Mayor mentioned how this was our 10th iteration of tourism outreach and hopes it will be successful this time. She even mentioned using AI as part of our advertising. Mrs. Sanford mentioned how much electricity is used for AI and suggested that we may not want to use it too much.

Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors, Mr. Trivett, District V Supervisor - Started out by saying things are not pretty in the County.  The Supervisors recently found out that the County owed the town over $700,000 in sewer fees and Rural Development loans were 8 months delinquent by $1.5M.  He did clarify that we have the money and that much of this is due to turnover in staffing.  The County has brought in the prior administrator to help while we look for a new one and has appointed Donna is the acting administrator. We have a new finance director and they are working to fix our problems.  I asked Mr. Trivett if there was a reason for the $100K + increase in E911 services to the county and he stated that they are not sure at this time. 

Colonial Beach Public Schools, Dr. Addo, Superintendent FY27 CBPS Budget Presentation - He gave an overview of their proposed budget. Some of the highlights were:

• Governor‘s school budget included $857.9M for schools. 

• State budget included 2 to 3% salary increases and a 1% local sales tax. 

• The projected local match (town’s required portion) for CB is 3,052,837 which is $265K less than last year.

• The rest of the schools roughly $10M budget is funded by the state.

• The school is asking for level funding $3.3 million which is $265K over the required match.  

• The town managers budget did not recommend providing the school with the additional amount requested.

Downtown Colonial Beach Annual Report, Eric Nelson, President - He gave an overview of the Downtown Colonial Beach nonprofit activities. He stated the next step for Main Street was to get full accreditation which we have been recommended for. They will be placing 4 kiosks with info on local tourism. Stated that there will be a new love golf cart because the old one is no longer usable. They are currently located with Gray Construction but soon will be opening their office in the old Title Company location on 601 Colonial Avenue, which will be combined with other offices and a visitor center. Kelly Vaughn is the new VP.  Started a committee of generational members to provide local perspective.  I asked if they were doing any public meetings so that people could provide feedback and see their activities and he stated that Community Heart and Soul is providing that bridge. Hosting a Derby party fundraising event in May.

Public Comment

Citizen - Stated the condition of their Street, Longfellow was in a very poor condition with flooding and potholes and ask the town for help.

Citizen - New resident thanked the town for snow removal.  Need help with wrong address on deed and no good/ helpful response from the Zoning Office. 

Citizen - Stated that the commercial tower being proposed in general zoning versus single location does not make sense and is bad policy.  Council says we cannot spot zone but yet we have one for Emergency Services being proposed at the same time. We should review our ethics guidelines to make sure that nobody owning commercial property is involved in the Tower process, period.  Regarding the budget process, there is no active listening going on. What would neighbors want to be added or removed from the budget. The way the process currently works 90% is baked into the cake. Could be constructive to find out what people want.

Authorize Public Hearings – Colonial Beach Volunteer Fire Department Requests Substantial Accord Determination (SA 26-01) for an Emergency Services Establishment and Rezoning from General Business (C-1) and General Residential (R-2) to Commercial Residential (CR) with Conditional Use Permit Approval to Permit Community Facility Use (Meeting and Event Space), Darla Odam, Interim Zoning Administrator (TAB A) - The town is requesting a public hearing to review a request by the CB Volunteer Fire Department to add a building behind Lenny’s, which is currently zoned residential and would need to be rezoned commercial. The building would be roughly 60’ x 120‘ which would include a garage and a 60’x 60’ event Center, allowing the fire department to raise much-needed funds.  Vote 7–0 to hold the public hearing on May 6.

FY27 Budget Workshop Review, Natasha Tucker, Town Manager and Lisa Okes, Director of Finance/CFO - This was a follow up discussion from our special budget meeting.  Staff researched the electric service increase and found out that it was not 46% but more like 15%.  They also identified additional water/sewer budget cuts which was presented to council and that reduced the proposed budget by $52k water and $169k sewer.  The new proposal is an increase of $1.96 a quarter water and $21.44 for sewer which would be $23.40 a quarter so the new bill would be around $410 quarterly.  We were told some of the reasons for the proposed increase were the DEQ consent order, maintenance and electricity prices.

The Mayor randomly brought up a new financial policy to separate the school tax amount from the general fund. To me this seems like it should’ve been an agenda item versus a random discussion, but it went through anyway.  Staff will bring council a presentation that shows examples of how the policy will work.  I had a lot of questions. My main concern was how this impacts future tax rates. It was sold as a transparency move to show taxpayers what portion of their tax dollars are going towards the schools. My question was will this result in automatic tax increases using the schools as an excuse. I was assured it would not, but it seems like a move in that direction.  I do get the concept.  

We were asked if there were any additional discussions surrounding the budget.  Wood brought up the town managers 2% raise that she did not receive after her performance review. I asked why was this even an issue, shouldn’t it have been an automatic addition to the budget? The answer was yes.  Maggie raised concerns over the parks and rec budget and whether there was a need for the parks and rec department based on a very limited budget and minimal events being held.  Rick Wood and the Mayor both piled on Maggie defending the parks and rec budget. At one point I had to call for point of order when Mr. Wood was asking the town attorney if he would take a 50% cut in his salary to make a point.  Lisa and I defended Maggie. There were additional questions from Lisa regarding contingency budget and equipment costs. I suggested perhaps we could have a separate meeting agenda item regarding the parks and rec department and council expectations and the town manager got very defensive stating that it was her responsibility, not councils.  My reply was that I was suggesting a discussion regarding the policies, not managing staff.  The Mayor also suggested we could discuss the topic in the future.  We will have additional discussions at our April meeting, and set a public hearing in early May .

Update On Beach Erosion Planning - My update was to share good news with council regarding what I had researched on overall erosion plans for our beaches which is something I’ve been advocating for the last couple of years.  Currently, we add sand and boulders for $150k annually, but do not have any sort of engineer plan or design and some constituents have suggested that we need to get expert advice to avoid costly mistakes and wasting money. During our January strategic planning meeting council agreed that I could research to see if I could find a cost-effective way to get an overall plan for our beaches. After meeting with constituents and taking other feedback, I reached out to Congressman Wittman‘s office and explained our needs and the history of our beaches, which were originally fortified by the Army Corps of Engineers 30 years ago.  The staffer from Rep Wittman‘s office was very enthusiastic about trying to help us and asked us to send him an official request from the town manager‘s office and he would try to get the Army Corps to assess and possibly provide assistance.  I stated that this was in line with our legislative priorities and resiliency plan.  Council all seemed to be on board with this and the mayor asked if the town manager and assistant town manager would reach out to Wittman and they said yes.

Closed Meeting

a. Pursuant to Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711 (A. 7.) for the purpose of consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members or consultants pertaining to actual or probable litigation, where such consultation or briefing in open meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of the Town Council.

b. 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.

Councilman David Williams

Please email or call with questions or comments:

dwilliams@colonialbeachva.gov

540-604-4335