Councilman Williams Update 5/20/26

Council and Town Manager updates, CIP approved, water sewer increases and Attorney for Lennar financing agreement were all on Wednesday’s agenda.

Council Member Announcements 

Parks and Rec - May’s Dog Days event was cancelled. Town wide yard sale will be May 30th 8a-4p (email sadams@colonialbeachva.gov to get on the sale map). Several events coming up.

Planning Commission – 130 Short Term Rentals applications, New Code Enforcement Officer.

School - Commented on Saturday’s graduation and how packed it was.

Public Safety - No major issues in town, worship watch meeting was Thursday and Reminders on County wide burn band. 

Economic Development - meetings regarding partnerships with local businesses. May 14th was the business breakfast which was well attended.

Non-Government - Osprey Foundation volunteers for nest observations. WWER 7 year anniversary.

Public Works - numerous repairs and installs underway. Staff training.  Road patches through the entire town.  5000 tons of sand added to the beaches and 3000 tons rip rap. Mulch added all the parks.

Mayor - graduation compliments. Small business appreciation well attended. Yacht club flag raising. The Schick family sold the yacht club to the Stringers Marina.  Ice House Brewery is a good example of economic incentive success. Save the bay day June 6.

Town Manager Updates

New hires - Public works, two new police officers, code and community enhancement officer, Beth McDowell.  

Sewer Plant Update, John Simmons, Inboden Environmental Services - Drought has caused some low flow issues, nitrate still high. Used ARPA funds to purchase sludge press that has been installed. The new press will greatly improve treatment. 6^th Street improvements. On path to use up the ARPA funds by October deadline. Saved almost $2M. Mentioned issue of sewer clean outs being removed or damaged in yards causing major inflow issues.  I asked if the town could introduce an ordinance to stop that and he stated yes they may be bringing one to council soon.

Proclamation – National Public Works - Read by Mayor

Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors, Mr. Trivett, District V Supervisor - mentioned route 205 trash pick-up beginning of June.  Design of new rescue squad building underway. Mentioned fraud in today’s paper which could run into six figures.  No county budget yet.  Burn ban still in effect.

Colonial Beach Public Schools, Dr. Addo, Superintendent - mentioned State budget still in flux.  Student membership down to 539 was 555.  Had a wonderful year, scores looking good, shout out to leadership. CIP items including bus, cameras, front entrance and weapons detection system.

Public Comment

Citizen - complemented public works. Don’t think service fees are the best way to resolve budget issues. Consider new ways in the future. School number is lower, need to figure out how to raise funds. Closed meetings are very difficult to determine what is being discussed, County does this right. Need more transparency. Lennar is ready to move forward enormous future impact.

Citizen - I stand with small business. Citizens need to speak up. 12 years in business five years in Colonial Beach. Economic development. People are our asset.  Need to change ordinances to be more business friendly.  Let’s enable the people.  Feel Council’s responsibility to foster business. T-shirt saying CB loves small business not true.  Tough to make a living here.

Citizen - Mentioned Beach sand, and basic engineering mistakes.  If this were a class, we would get a bad grade. It’s the people’s money. There are many options for metering water. We need a full reporting/ accounting on discount fee waivers. The cost gets shifted to the residents.  Makes us look bad.

Citizen - English teacher for 28 years. Mentioned COVID impacts on students.  Support maintaining funding. Thanks for support.

Resolution #20-26, Adoption of Colonial Beach Capital Improvement Plan for Fiscal Years 2027-2031 (Public Hearing was held on May 6, 2026) - This was to approve the CIP which is required by Virginia code.  In my opinion, there are way too many items with no funding and the plan lacks organization so I’m not sure how useful the plan really is.  I previously mentioned how priorities for example Dwight Avenue extension are listed as number one when council clearly did not put that on their top priorities.  The Mayor asked if the zero plan (town wide safety plan) was added which included my Castlewood Park safety concerns.  I reluctantly agreed for the park into be put in the zero-plan vs a separate line.  I may be wrong but I don’t think my Castlewood parking area concerns mentioned in a 2024 news article will be addressed until someone actually gets hurt over there.  It’s been a mess since a prior town manager turned the park into an open gravel pit.  I voted yes with the rest of council with the caveat that we will have a work session to discuss CIP priorities in August. Final vote 7-0

Ordinance No. 782, Amends the Town of Colonial Beach Code of Ordinances, Chapter 21 “Water and Sewers,” by increasing the residential flat rate water and sewer fees (Public Hearing was held on May 6, 2026) - This was to consider increasing the quarterly water sewer bill by $23.41.  After a number of discussions and over a dozen citizens writing against council was ask to approve the increase.  I made motion to postpone the vote so we could go through the general budget at our next work session and make cuts to offset the water sewer increase.  My motion failed 2-6 with me and Maggie voting yes.  Afterwards Rick made a motion to approve the water sewer increase.  I mentioned I was against the increase due to large developer discounts and needing an audit to ensure all residential units in town are paying their share.  Vote for increase 4-3 YES Schick, Wood, Larson, Allison. NO votes were Sanford, Grandstaff and Williams. 

Ordinance No. 783, Amends the Town of Colonial Beach Code of Ordinances, Chapter 21 “Water and Sewers,” by increasing the commercial flat rate water and sewer fees (Public Hearing was held on May 6, 2026) - This was for the $23.41 business water sewer increase. I said my stance was the same as for residential. Vote for increase 4-3 YES Schick, Wood, Larson, Allison. NO votes were Sanford, Grandstaff and Williams. 

Resolution #21-26, Adoption and Appropriation of Fiscal Year 2027 Budget & Adoption and Appropriation of Fiscal Year 2027 Budget for the Colonial Beach School Board (Public Hearing was held on May 6, 2026) - This was to approve the FY 2027 budget.  The general budget did not include any increases in tax rates. I will admit I was not very happy with the overall budget and believe that there’s wasteful spending that should’ve been addressed if there was enough support to do so.  I stated that we really need to get our spending under control.  Final vote was 7–0.

Resolution #22-26, Approval of Retainer Agreement with Sands Anderson – Apparently the 490 acres Lennar development across from Wilkerson‘s may be ready to start developing. This vote was to approve Sands Anderson to represent us in that development specifically relating to special bond funding for infrastructure.  Once again, council gets information with little notice and only one option.  I had several concerns regarding not having additional options, and also the fact that this company has represented us in the past at an extreme cost.  I mentioned how the town has gotten the short end of the stick on most of the developments in the last 40 years and we need to be selective in choosing representation.  The wrong move here could bankrupt our town.  Mrs. Grandstaff also raised concerns about not being familiar with this company. Vote for to approve 4-3 YES Schick, Wood, Larson, Allison. NO votes were Sanford, Grandstaff and Williams. 

Closed Meeting

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.

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.

Pursuant to Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711 (A.1.) for the purpose of discussing and considering the performance of specific public officers, appointees, or employees of the Town.

Councilman David Williams

Please email or call with questions or comments:

dwilliams@colonialbeachva.gov

540-604-4335