Councilman Williams Update 7/16/25

Several town manager updates including: sewer spill, carnival and $720k grant for North Beach, Volunteer Rescue Squad updates, Broadband updates, Pier Lease agreement passed, and Council vote to get the water meters working again were all items on Wednesday’s agenda.

Approval of Minutes: May 4, 2022, May 18, 2022, January 15, 2025, May 7, 2025 and May 21, 2025 Vote 7-0

Resolution #20-25, Amends and Appropriates Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Budget, General Fund for Fire Department Grant - this was to accept $4,328.00 in grant funds to pass along to the fire department.

Council Member Reports 

Public safety – officers were promoted and another recognized for special drug certification.

Good morning. Mrs. Grandstaff asked Chief Parsons for a report on how much revenue tickets bring in and he promised to have some kind of reporting by next meeting.

Schools – new teachers starting at the end of July and the rest will be back early August. Mainly preparing for new school year.  Contractor chosen for new school entrance. 

Parks and Rec - mentioned several events, including Torrey Smith event coming soon.

Public Works – utility installs, water and sewer repairs, hydrants painted, drains cleaned out, Fourth of July and carnival assistance. 18,000-gallon sewer spill at main lift station on Colonial Avenue.

Mayor – event recognition, recognized Bob Christensen from CB Playhouse, Carnival was great, new commander at Dahlgren.  Attended board of supervisors meeting.

Town Manager Updates

North Beach Boardwalk grant received $720k more info to come soon on next steps.

Sewer spill – 4 inches of rain, DEQ and town council were notified no swim

restrictions were required. Great effort by the town staff to mitigate.

Carnival – considered it a success, CBVFD Ladies Auxiliary will have opportunity to manage next year.

Downtown connectivity plan – SMARP grant. There was a meeting on June 26th led by the Timmons Group.  Items discussed were marketing, traffic, land use and infrastructure needs, etc.  Suggested non-seasonal economy. Looking at parking routes, reports to come late fall.  Just like with all other studies council members are already touting how wonderful this study will be for the town.  I hate to be a pessimist, but most of the town’s studies turn out to be a waste of money.

Larson did ask for parking fine totals to be provided.

4th Quarter Finance Report, Director of Finance/CFO - we were given the fourth quarter preliminary numbers, but will not have final until we close the books in October. $38k carryover funds for Eleanor, Park Azalea Park and sidewalks. Roughly $204k carryover total for year. The sewer fund is on target but the water fund is a little short.

2nd Quarter Public Safety Report, Chief Parsons - police 2,535 calls, 257 were traffic and 38 were arrests. There was a decrease in assaults but slight increase in property crimes and DWIs. Fire department responded to 42 calls and put in 425 hours. EMS had 258 calls in CB and 147 transports.

I asked if the Volunteer Rescue Squad was responding to calls and got a vague answer stating that all calls were recorded under Westmoreland County. 

Sewer Plant Update, John Simmons, Inboden Environmental Services - June all went well. Still not meeting nitrates requirement which improves when we have more residents in town.  We’re still having SCADA system issues but working with the DEQ and Lord & company to do testing. We’ve also purchased extra press belts.

*He recommended people do not swim in the river for two days after a heavy rain.

He stated that the DEQ agreement is nearly final.  The inflow issue (yard water running in the sewer) was brought up and I asked John what percentage of homes were draining into the sewer system (part of the sewer problem), he said roughly 40%.  Whenever testing is done, they find an average of 3 to 4 houses draining directly into the sewer.

He said this was a country wide problem and the Mayor emphasized “long term problem” John suggested that we rent a sludge press to speed up the cleaning of the storage tank.

Proclamation, Honoring Torrey & Chanel Smith and the Level82 Family for their support to the Colonial Beach Youth and Community

Mayor Schick Proclamation, National Parks and Recreation Month 

Westmoreland County Board of Supervisors, Mr. Trivett - the truth finally comes out, CB volunteer rescue squad has not responded to calls since November and no longer have their own license.  In response to mine and Mr. Woods questions about the volunteer rescue squad, Mr. Trivett gave a long speech about the current status of the CBVRS.  He stated that the squad still exists and is a partner with Westmoreland EMS.  He also admitted him and Robin Schick are working behind the scenes on another rescue squad project.  I’m not sure if everybody’s aware, but with our type of government, the mayor has no more power than any other council member so I stated that I appreciated the recent transparency, but I did ask if he would keep all of council in the loop and not just the mayor or the liaison.  I also stated I was personally very supportive of ensuring that we get an EMS building in town.  The CBVRS non profit still plays an important role in CB and we need to support a new building to ensure short response times continue (currently 8-minute average which we were told is great). The mayor did interject, the CBVRS can still run calls.

Other county updates - he mentioned that the Northern Neck Commission was meeting at the Ice House on July 21st at 7:30. We never lost communications when the 911 tower was hit by lightning, but it required support from surrounding counties.  The event did highlight needing upgrades at significant costs.  

County is going to be changing the dog license to life of pet for $20 but it’s not approved yet.  He also mentioned that the transfer station is no longer charging for appliances, brush or tires.

Broadband Enhancement & Advocacy Update, the Broadband Council, Sarah

Sullivan - she discussed the various phases of a study and trying to get broadband improvements in town. More testing is needed in order to prove that we are an underserved community and qualify for various grants.

Public Comment

Citizen - representing the CB historical society and museum, stated there’s a new Native American exhibit. She also mentioned that they’re doing fundraisers and invited people to become members.

Citizen - stated his name was Rick Davis on Monroe Bay Avenue and would be running for council next year. Stated two good officers left and asked why they were not recognized for their service. Stated this town should do an inventory of their equipment and sell the surplus to help with town finances.

Citizen - Thanked Tim for recognizing the rescue squad volunteers. Stated she was helping with the Alzheimer’s Walk and invited people to participate.

Citizen - Downtown Colonial Beach had a joint meeting with the economic development committee. Mentioned that Main Street sign would be dedicated on July 29th. CB flags for sale at Magnolia Hall, CB creative and other locations.

Citizen - concerns over the maintenance agreement attached to the pier leases.

Citizen - asked if we should do something about the electric bikes, perhaps a town ordinance regulating.  Also asked about the camping of the carnival trailers on Colonial Avenue. Perhaps they should be outside of town next year.

The Community Heart and Soul coordinator mentioned that there would be a community survey soon.

Resolution # 16-25, Approves Lease Agreement for Dock/Pier Construction on Town Property, Town Attorney - there were many prior discussions on this topic so council went straight to the vote. The amended lease agreement passed with a vote of 7-0 there were some changes in the language, and the annual fee was raised from $250 to $350.

Resolution #21-25, Approval of 2025 Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission By-Laws, Director of Parks, Recreation and Events – There were a lot of changes in the language mainly items removed to simplify the bylaws.  I had several questions and also made a motion to add back the clause on conflicts of interest, which was removed for some reason. The motion passed 7–0. The final vote on the bylaws was 7–0.

Resolution #22-25, Recommends Appointment of Larry Roberson, Stephen Zirkle and Maureen McCabe to the Colonial Beach Board of Zoning Appeals, Town Attorney - this was to re-appoint 3 members. I asked if resumes were provided and answer was no, all these members have been on there for years and should be recognized. I stated that some members on Council are pretty new and probably don’t know who those people are. Final Vote 7-0.

Resolution #23-25, Amends and Appropriates Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Budget, Water and Sewer Funds for Meter Communications System, Director of Public Works - As has been previously admitted, the majority of the water meters do not work and have not for some time; in fact, 95% do not work. We were also told that we’re not even charging businesses for metered water because the meters don’t work.  The only real solution offered was to pay $90K for one collector and 7 AC power repeaters.    The good news is that the meters are still under warranty so if we can replace this equipment and determine which ones are not functional, the company will replace under warranty for free, saving the town hundreds of thousands of dollars. I must say the town got lucky on this one.  We are using ARPA funds to pay for this.  Final vote 7–0.

Closed Meetings 

a. Pursuant to Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711 (A) (7), for 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 consultation with legal counsel retained by the Town Council regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel.

c. Pursuant to Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711 (A) (3) for discussion or consideration of the acquisition of real property for a public purpose where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the Town Council.

Councilman David Williams

Please email or call with questions or comments:

dwilliams@colonialbeachva.gov

540-604-4335