Councilman Williams Update 9/17/25

Town Manager updates, Water and Sewer budget overview, Legislative agenda priorities, Personal property tax rate set and Azalea Park updates were all items on Wednesday’s agenda.

Amendments to the Agenda -The 2nd closed session item was removed.

Approval of Minutes: June 30, 2022 and August 20, 2025 Vote 6-0 

Council Member Reports

Economic Development - The September EDC meeting was cancelled so they will continue working with Down Town Colonial Beach on the objectives listed at their last meeting. Their next meeting will be in October.  

Parks and Rec - 2 openings on the Parks and Rec committee. The community yard sale will be September 27. If you want to get your name on the list call Sally Adams.

Public Works - Updates on water, sewer repairs, including smoke testing, and other activities of public works including event support.

Public Safety - Neighborhood Watch September 25.  New officers joining soon.

Planning Commission- 2 openings on the planning commission citizens should apply. 

Non-Governmental Organizations - numerous events going on throughout town check out the NGO website.

Schools - The schools and the town had a collaboration meeting the previous Friday. 

Mayor - Beach Music Festival was a success, COMREL coming soon, kudos to the town newsletter, and draft council handbook to come soon.

Town Manager Update

New Hire - After a year of looking, we finally hired a new Director of Planning Community Development.  Angela Lawrence has a significant amount of experience serving as county administrators and mayor as well as on planning commissions, and town councils for other localities.

COMREL will be in Colonial Beach at the icehouse on September 25 8:30 to 12 PM.  Open to the public

Emergency plans - The town is working on a draft emergency plan in coordination with the county.

Sewer Plant Update, John Simmons, Inboden Environmental Services - 

August was a slow month at the plant with no major issues.  New carbon lines were installed with positive results.

 DEQ consent order amount has been dramatically reduced. The required repairs went from $35.7M down to $2.02M.  All work needs to be completed by FY2028. It was stated that the full $35M still needs to be done, but is no longer part of the DEQ consent order.  Part of the reason for the reduction is several items have already been repaired, including SCADA Central drainage and some I&I.  Basically, we still need to do the repairs and if we don’t, we’ll end up right back where we started so the town still needs to be held accountable for ensuring the plant is repaired and kept in good order.

Colonial Beach Public Schools, Dr. Addo, Superintendent - we are currently in the sixth week of school. Three new student liaisons. New administrative assistant. Recognized teacher of the month. The ADM i.e. number of students is currently 584 and without pre-K it's 552.  The tax issue is still in process. The new front entrance and parking lot are still in progress.

CIP Prioritization-Water & Sewer Funds, Davenport Financial Services - our financial advisor gave an extensive overview of the water and sewer funds.  My takeaways were, our expenses are outpacing our revenues, which is typical for Colonial Beach.  I suggested that we need to plan with details laid out so council can make sound financial planning decisions. Others seem to agree, but the mayor had concerns about a plan complicating things. It seems we are always being prepared for increases.  I would suggest you watch the presentation to get the full picture.  

Public Comment

Citizen – The Beach Music Festival was a success and estimated $30k in proceeds. $12,500 going to scholarships.  2 days 420 people Sat and 350 Sun.

2026 Legislative Agenda, Kyler Brower, Assistant Town Manager - Council was asked to provide feedback for legislative priorities. A list of 13 from Council members was provided and we discussed the various items.  The mayor asked council to write down their top 6 and after she narrowed it down to 4 items that got 6 to 7 votes the others only got 3 to 4 votes.  For transparency, I stated what my preferences were: a. wastewater treatment plant, b. Community infrastructure, including sidewalks, streets, etc., and L. expanding healthcare, c/h. Shoreline erosion and stormwater management.

After much discussion, we voted on whether to include four items which I was in support of or seven. My concern was that the larger the list the less focused we appear to be. We voted 4-3 to include 7 priorities vs 4 after that we decided on the 7 which are listed below in order of support:

A. Wastewater treatment plant.

B. Community infrastructure, including sidewalks, streets, etc., 

C/H. Shoreline erosion and stormwater management.

J. Funding grants for economic development.

D. Funding to expand broadband infrastructure.

L. Expanding healthcare, 

K. Ways to get the required local school match reduced.

Final vote was 7-0

Resolution #25-25, Establishment of Personal Property Tax Relief Rates for Tax Year 2025, Adam Schaefer, Assistant Director of Finance Request for Public Hearing to Authorize Collection Costs for Delinquent Personal Property Taxes - this is a vote. Council has to make every year to determine how much your town personal property taxes will be. From what I gathered you should not see any significant increases. Vote 7–0 to pass.

Resolution #26-25, Authorizes Town Manager to Enter into Agreement for the Design and Construction of Azalea Park, Kyler Brower, Assistant Town Manager - the $222k funding was already approved 4–3 last meeting so this was just to authorize the design/build of the park. Mrs. Grandstaff asked a question about some of the costs.  to stay consistent, I voted no, mainly because of the significant cost and the town having much higher infrastructure needs.  Our small town will now have six parks, including the dog park.  The park is set to be completed sometime in January or February. Vote 5-2 with Lisa and me voting no.  

Closed Meeting

a. 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.

Removed from Agenda 

b. 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.

Please email or call with questions or comments:

dwilliams@colonialbeachva.gov

540-604-4335