Councilman Williams Update 9/16/26
Town manager updates, employee recognition, legislative agenda approved, October and November meeting adjustments, FY27 personal property tax rate set and hearings approved for Oct were all items on Wednesday’s agenda.
Amendments to the Agenda - recognition of Lisa Oakes 15 years of service. Removed close session from agenda. Vote 7-0
Approval of Minutes: July 15, 2026, and August 19, 2026 - Vote 7-0 (I abstained from July and Lisa abstained from August minutes due to us being absent).
Resolution #31-26, Amends and Appropriates FY26-27 Budget, General Fund (Carryover Funds for Sidewalk Repairs) - this was to move $95K of the ADA violation repair funds to the current fiscal year. Vote 7-0
Resolution #32-26, Amends and Appropriates FY26-27 Budget, General Fund (LOLE Grant Funds) - this was to accept $2,433
Council Member Updates
Economic Development – vitality committee met on September 8, there was a decision to focus efforts, e.g. connectivity. More announcements to come.
Non-governmental – upcoming Osprey fest foundation events were announced, collecting signatures for menhaden fishing reductions. Successful Beach Music Festival.
Public Works - completed 57 work orders, repairs announced and installs. 850 feet of sewer line was flushed. Maintenance support for wastewater treatment plant. Provided event support.
Parks and Rec – mentioned some events passed and present. Fall yard sale September 26. Barbecue cookoff October 3.
Planning Commission – numerous permits were issued, 120 short-term rental applications for 2026. 24 complaints received. September‘s planning commission meeting was canceled.
Finance – tax bills coming soon.
Schools – school board and town school collaboration meetings were held.
Public safety - two recruits have graduated from police Academy. September 17th 6 PM worship watch meeting at Oak Grove Baptist Church. September 19 Colonial Beach First Baptist Church will have a prayer walk at 8:30 AM. Neighborhood watch September 24 6:30 PM in the community room at the police department.
Mayor - attended COMREL meeting, congrats Beach Music festival. Market on Main Street grand opening (donuts, coffee, beer and food). Waterman‘s Festival Fri. Candidates’ forum recording is available - thank you WWER.
Town Manager Update
Sewer Plant Update, John Simmons, Inboden Environmental Services - process 12,000,000 gallons of waste water in August, no violations pretty quiet month.
Two new hires - a part-time public relations specialist and a new assistant town manager - Ayana B Thurston
Proclamation – Finance and Accounting Appreciation Week.
Recognition of the Retirement of Lieutenant Vernetta Wright - it was obvious from the turnout and accolades that Miss Wright has left a lasting impression on this town. Thank you for your service and congratulations to all you have accomplished.
Colonial Beach Public Schools, Dr. Addo, Superintendent - Week 6 of school year. Shout out to staff. Town collaboration started back up. New school, resource officer. crossing guard is going great. SOL results did well. Some improvement but a little below his goal. School student numbers are up from 540 to 564.
Public Comment
Citizen – Bought house in Colonial Beach to use a short-term rental when he sold it this year, he found a major zoning issue. The residential lots on 2nd Street 2 through 29 are all messed up with one reportedly being missing. His house is partially on someone else’s lot. AskedTown Council for assistance.
Citizen - the legislative agenda should include the county. Should have simple statement on page one. e.g. Tangier Island received a lot of money. Be honest. Hope to see some revisions.
Resolution#33-26, Approval of the 2027 Legislative Agenda, Natasha Tucker, Town Manager - There were eight items total, including the waterline insfrastructure that I had proposed at the last council meeting.
Waste water and sewer infrastructure
Drinking water and water Line infrastructure
Community infrastructure
Coastal resiliency, flooding, and stormwater.
Economic development
Healthcare access
K – 12 funding and required local match effort
Broadband and digital infrastructure.
During the discussion, I asked if we should consider edits for improvements. I also asked if we had any lessons learned from prior legislative requests. One member that always seems to defend every single position the town takes stated that we received money in the past so why should we change. The fact is the money that’s been touted as a success was mostly COVID money, which basically all localities had to do is exist in order to get the money. In the end, we all voted to support the request, including the waterline edition. Vote 7-0
Meeting and November Work Session, Mayor Schick - Because of the town clerks absence next month and election in November council was asked to combine those meetings with their corresponding monthly meetings. There will only be one meeting for each month. Those meetings will be held October 7th and November 18th. I did raise the concern of why we needed to cancel meetings just because of the town clerk being gone, don’t we have a backup? The answer was we are working on a backup plan. Vote 7-0
Resolution #34-26, Establishment of Personal Property Tax Relief Rates for Tax Year 2026, Adam Schaefer, Assistant Director of Finance - this is a vote that council has to make every year in order to set the tax relief amount. Overall, vehicle assessments have increased by 6.5%. I asked how much we budgeted under the expected collection amount and the accounting staff could not answer exactly. After a bit of discussion, it was stated that it could be around $100k. I asked if we could increase the tax relief like we did a few years back and the CFO didn’t know what I was talking about, but the deputy CFO said he remembered. The mayor and town staff said this was something that could not happen because the extra funding has not yet been received and we used ARPA Funds last time. I believe we could have found a way to reduce the increase in your vehicle tax this year, but there wasn’t sufficient support to make it happen. They said maybe next year. Vote to set the rate was 6-1 with me being the only NO vote.
Request for Public Hearing – Leasing of Real Property located at 128 Hawthorn Street to Colonial Beach Historical Society (Tax Map ID 3A2-2-75-5B) and Real Property known as the Community Garden to Colonial Beach Greenspace, Inc (Tax Map ID 3A2-2-86- B), Powell Duggan, Town Attorney - This was to set a public hearing regarding the renewal of these leases. Vote 7-0 to Hold a hearing on October 7.th.
Request for Public Hearting – Ordinance No ___, Amends Chapter 15 (Nuisances) of the Town of Colonial Beach Town Code of Ordinances, Powell Duggan, Town Attorney - council vote to hold the public hearing for updates to the ordinance. I encourage citizens to look over the draft since it deals directly with your property and Towns ability to enforce blight regulations.
Vote 7-0 to hold the hearing Oct 7th
Closed Meeting - CANCELED
Other Updates
At the candidate’s forum a candidate mentioned that he appreciated my blogs and would like to take over when I leave. He stipulated that he would seek council approval prior to posting. In my opinion a scripted message from your town government is not true transparency. Numerous council members and town staff over the years have tried competing blogs to counter mine because they didn’t like the transparency so, this could be another attempt at that. No thanks!
Please email or call with questions or comments:
540-604-4335
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