The regularly scheduled meeting oft the Norton City Council was held Tuesday, March 18, 2025, at 5:00 p.m., in the Municipal Council Chambers with Mayor Joseph Fawbush presiding. Present: Chris Jones, Stacy Salyers, Robert Fultz, Jr., Mark Caruso and Joseph Fawbush Also Present: Jeffery A. Shupe, City Manager and Clerk, Stephen McElroy, Assistant City Manager and City Engineer, Treavor Calhoun, City Director of Finance, and Matthew R. Dotson, City Attorney The invocation was given by Pastor Freddie Powers and was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Norton Police Chief James Lane. Upon a motion by Councilman Salyers, seconded by Councilman Jones, and passed by the following vote: YES Jones, Salyers, Fultz and Fawbush, NO - None, ABSENT - None, ABSTAIN - Caruso, council moved to adopt the minutes oft the March 4, 2025, council meeting as presented. During the Mayor's Call for Visitors, Mr. John Polly of201 7th Street, NE, Norton, presented council with petition about potholes and speeding on 7th Street, NE, and Hamner Avenue, NE. Mr. Polly said he appreciated the city putting gravel in the potholes, but that was not going to solve the problem. Noting that there were 39 or 40 signatures on the petition, he said he hoped the petition would do some good because the potholes are damaging vehicles. Mayor Fawbush thanked Mr. Polly for addressing council with his concerns. High Knob Music Festival Treasurer Buddy Delp presented an update on this year's High Knob Music Festival (HKMF) scheduled for June 14h, 2025, and requested continued sponsorship from the city. The city manager advised council that copies of a letter to the city manager, mayor and council containing information about the festival as well as a request for sponsorship had been placed on council desks. This year's festival will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Saturday, June 14th, 9 2025, at the High Knob Recreation Area. After thanking council for the opportunity to present an update on the annual music festival, Mr. Delp discussed the importance ofs sponsorship and partnership in the festival's mission to keep the High Knob Recreation Area open and provide the free festival to the public. He also introduced Ms. Debbie Mullins, who coordinates most ofthe cooking for festival fundraisers. Ms. Mullins said it is a free festival, but we ask that attendees bring canned food for donation to the local food bank. The festival treasurer said one ofthe overall goals oft the festival is to try to boost tourism and traffic in the High Knob region. Noting that Norton's "Get Outside in Norton" focus is not only good for physical health, but also for mental health, he said getting people outside was one of the things the music festival is also trying to do. The family-friendly festival is free of charge and festival attendees are permitted and encouraged to bring their own food and drinks. Alcohol and drugs are prohibited. He said year-round fundraising is done to raise money for the festival and despite increased inflation, festival organizers have once again set a budget goal of$12,000 for this year's festival. He said we depend on the help ofMountain Empire Older Citizens (MEOC) which runs free shuttle bus transportation from John I. Burton High School parking lot to/from High Knob Recreation Area during the festival. Mr. Delp said we have tried to fold our music festival into other important missions like teaching our students music and growing that music base as festival organizers want to continue the musical tradition ofthe region. He also discussed the tentative music lineup for this year's festival which includes performances by Blue Mountain Saints, From the EDGE, Cody Mabe Band and Sean Patrick Whiting. Mr. Delp said the three music schools will open the festival and Rolling Thunder will do a patriotic presentation. He pointed out that this year's music festival will be held on Flag Day. After discussing the festival committee's fundraising efforts, Mr. Delp said approximately $2,000 was raised at the Blue Highway Festival and the festival committee made the decision to put the $2,000 toward building the handicapped accessible observation deck at the High Knob Recreation Area. He said the festival committee hoped to build the handicapped accessible deck next month, noting that the committee may have to donate some of the labor and that verbal approval from the U. S. Forest Service had been received. He said approximately $6,000 had been saved and donated to do the project. Mr. Delp shared current festival committee plans to discuss the festival and festival partnerships and sponsorships with area localities and counties. He asked for city assistance with cleaning the High Knob Recreation Area, removing debris and limbs following winter and recent storms, as well as mowing and weed eating, particularly the week preceding the festival. Mentioning that the last couple of years a Best Friend Festival billboard on U.S. 23 near the High Knob exit had included the High Knob Music Festival, Mr. Delp asked ift the music festival could be inçluded on the billboard again this year. Mr. Delp offered to answer questions from council. Mayor Fawbush said we will certainly look into that and inquired whether the billboard was a city or Norton Industrial Development Authority (NIDA) project. The city manager confirmed that the billboard was paid for by NIDA. Mayor Fawbush said city administration would contact NIDA and coordinate something. Mr. Delp thanked council. Vice Mayor thanked Mr. Delp for doing the High Knob Music Festival. Noting that the destination center is open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, Mayor Fawbush asked Mr. Delp to take some High Knob Music Festival promotional materials to the destination center. Mr. Delp said this is the 11th year of putting on the festival and that the festival has existed for 12 years, but there was no music festival in 2020 due to COVID. He said last year was the festival's 10th Anniversary and council supported us and made a very generous donation to our efforts. He said anything that you can do to help us we appreciate it even ifit is not as much as you have been able to do in the past. Discussion followed about the music lineup for the festival. Mayor Fawbush applauded Mr. Delp and the High Knob Music Festival Committee for their effort in establishing the music festival as a successful grassroots event. The festival treasurer expressed appreciation for the sponsorship and partnership in this venture, adding that the committee could not have done it alone without the backing ofthe local towns and counties. Mr. Delp thanked council for their time. Council consideration was requested for authorization for city administration to work with the Norton Tourism Committee on a potential Cumberland Forest Community Fund grant application. The city manager said Norton Tourism Committee Chairman Marcus Adkins and committee members Tara Greear and Becky Lagow were present at the meeting to discuss the grant. Two related documents had been placed at their desks. One document was a proposal summary for the grant application, while the other document was the Cumberland Forest Community Fund grant application template. Mr. Shupe introduced Mr. Adkins and committee members Tara Greear and Becky Lagow. After thanking council for the opportunity to discuss the grant with council, Mr. Adkins said the committee was approached at its meeting last week about a possible funding source, the Cumberland Forest Community Fund, through the UVA Wise Oxbow Center, for the Woodbooger Festival. He said the committee wanted to reinvigorate the festival with potential funding from the Cumberland Forest Community Fund. Noting that the grant application due date was March 28th, 2025, Mr. Adkins said he wrote the grant and was asking council for authorization to submit the grant application to the Cumberland Forest Community Fund for the average grant award amount of$15,000. Mr. Adkins discussed grant application details with council. The city manager asked council for authorization for city administration, which would include himself, Norton Parks and Recreation Director Rebecca Kilgore, Norton Community Engagement and Tourism Director Katie Dunn, and Assistant City Manager/City Engineer Stephen McElroy, to work with the Norton Tourism Committee on getting the application submitted by March 28th, > since council will not meet again until April 1st. He applauded the committee's efforts and credited the committee with the concept development. A brief discussion followed about how the committee found out about the grant funding. Vice Mayor Caruso thanked the committee for developing the grant proposal, adding that he thought the tourism committee was formed to create projects such as this. He said he thought the committee had done an excellent job and that the grant proposal was well written. He told Mr. Adkins and the attending committee members to keep it up. Mr. Adkins said he thought this was energy the committee needed and that the committee wanted to move toward becoming proactive rather than reactive. He said the entire committee helped and played a part in creating the grant proposal and that his writing the grant proposal was only a piece of the effort. The tourism committee chairman asked if council had any questions. Mayor Fawbush offered his assistance with this endeavor. Vice Mayor Caruso said you picked the right project at the right time; you have done an excellent job of getting this proposal done quickly, and it just shows what can be done when you work together as a team. Noting that the festival is absolutely needed, he said the festival is unique and has some history behind it; and now we need to reinvigorate the festival and bring some folks here. Mr. Shupe advised council that this is a festival that Norton Parks and Recreation Director Rebecca Kilgore has wanted to get back on the calendar. Discussion followed about how the proposal project has been a team effort. Mr. Adkins said he thought this shows the capacity for what the city tourism committee can do if the committee is given the abilities to do it. Councilman Salyers said to keep the ideas coming and that council was open to all suggestions. Mr. Shupe advised council that the City of Norton would be the grant applicant and if and when the grant is awarded city administration would come back to council to request authorization to accept the grant award and finalize the budget. The consensus of council was to authorize city administration to work with the Norton Tourism Committee to submit a grant application to Cumberland Forest Community Fund. Next on the agenda was an update on annual Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) grant applications for a School Resource Officer (SRO) at Norton Elementary and Middle School (NEMS), a School Resource Officer at John I. Burton High School, and a School Safety Officer (SSO) at NEMS. The city manager said this agenda item was an update because the SRO grant applications were due at 5 p.m., today, SO the SRO grants were submitted earlier today. He said the SSO grant application was submitted one day last week by Mr. Scott Addison with Norton City Schools. Mr. Shupe said should these grants be awarded city administration would come back to city council with the award amounts and request authorization to accept the awards. The two SROs are employed by the City of1 Norton, while the city serves as the fiscal agent for the SSO position. Mr. Shupe said the grant for the SRO at John I. Burton High School was submitted for $85,379, of which $20,500 was the city match. He explained that each ofthe two SRO grants require a match which is based on the Local Composite Index (LCI) percentage. The city manager said the NEMS SRO grant was $89,915 with a city match ofjust over $21,500. Mr. Shupe said the city is the grant applicant for the NEMS SSO grant, which was for $50,000 with a match of$13,275 that comes from Norton City Schools, resulting in a flowthrough of roughly $37,000 in grant dollars. He said once city administration becomes aware of award approval city administration would come back to council for formal approval. He offered to answer questions from council. After inquiry from the mayor, the city manager said these applications were one-year applications and were for Fall 2025 to Spring 2026. Mayor Fawbush asked if council had any questions or comments. The mayor said this was a good update. A Resolution Proclaiming April 2025 as Child Abuse Prevention Month in the City of Norton was provided in council packets for consideration. The city manager said Norton Department of Social Services Director Abe Rutherford was at the meeting to discuss the resolution with council. During his discussion ofthe department': S efforts to increase awareness of child abuse and its prevention, Mr. Rutherford reported that 2024 cases of abuse and neglect of children in the City ofl Norton were down by five as 78 referrals were investigated by NDSS in 2023 and 73 were investigated in 2024. Ofthe 73, 49 were family assessments and 24 were investigations. Noting that those numbers fluctuate from year to year, he said our goal as an agency is to do what we can to prevent child abuse. This year's child abuse prevention event, sponsored by NDSS and Commonwealth Catholic Charities, is called "Help Us Turn Abuse Inside Out" with a theme that goes along with the family/comedy movie Inside Oul by Disney and Pixar. The event will be held Friday, April 11, 2025, at the Norton Expo Center with vendors/service providers setting up from 5-6 p.m., and the movie Inside Out will be shown at 6:15 p.m. Mr. Rutherford provided council with a flyer about the child abuse awareness event and invited council and the community to attend. In addition to adoption of the resolution, Mr. Rutherford requested council permission to display new pinwheels in front ofthe walls at the eastern and western entrances to Norton in an effort to make the community aware that child abuse exists and is preventable. The consensus of council was to give permission to NDSS to put pinwheels in front of the entrance walls to the city. Mr. Rutherford asked if council had any questions. There were no questions from council. The mayor thanked Mr. Rutherford, and on behalf of council, expressed appreciation for the work he does. Upon a motion by Councilman Jones, seconded by Councilman Salyers, and passed by unanimous vote, council moved to adopt a Resolution Proclaiming April 2025 as Child Abuse Prevention Month in the City ofNorton. (Insert) Upon a motion by Councilman Fultz, seconded by Councilman Caruso, and passed by the following unanimous roll call vote: YES - Jones, Salyers, Fultz, Caruso and Fawbush, NO None, ABSENT - None, council moved to go into closed meeting to discuss Personnel as per Section 2.2-3711 (A) (1) oft the Code ofVirginia, as amended; and for a Discussion Concerning a Prospective Business or Industry or the Expansion of an Existing Business or Industry Where No Previous Announcement Has Been Made of the Business's or Industry's Interest in Locating or Expanding its Facilities in the Community as per Section 2.2-3711 (A) (5) ofthe Code of Virginia as amended. Mayor Fawbush declared council in closed meeting. Following the closed meeting, Councilman Fultz left the council meeting and did not take his seat on council. Upon a motion by Councilman Salyers, seconded by Councilman Caruso, and passed by the following vote: YES Jones, Salyers, Caruso and Fawbush, NO - None, ABSENT - Fultz, ABSTAIN = None, council moved to go back into open meeting. Mayor Fawbush declared council back in open meeting. Mr. Shupe polled each member of council as to the Certification of Closed Meeting with each answer yes. He then read A Resolution ofthe Certification of Closed Meeting. Upon a motion by Councilman Caruso, seconded by Councilman Jones, and passed by the following vote: YES Jones, Salyers, Caruso and Fawbush, NO - None, ABSENT - Fultz, ABSTAIN - None, council moved to adopt A Resolution ofthe Certification of Closed Meeting. (Insert) In comments from the city manager: Mr. Shupe distributed copies of the monthly Retail Sales Tax Report to council. The city manager said city administration had secured a fireworks vendor for Saturday, July Sth, ,so the city's Independençe Day Celebration with fireworks will be held Saturday, July 5th. Mr. Shupe informed council that the Norton Water Ireatment Plant has been awarded the 2024 Excellence in Waterworks OperationsPeriormance Award and presentation of the award will take place Thursday, April 10h, in Roanoke, Virginia, during the Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project (SERCAP) Water is Life event. Upcoming events mentioned by the city manager included: Youth Earth Day Art Contest, with the category of Wildflowers, continues until 5 p.m., April 14th, and Slow Flow Yoga Class at 9 a.m., Saturday, March 22nd, at the High Knob Destination Center. Mr. Shupe reminded council about the quarterly council work session scheduled for 8 a.m., Saturday, April Sth, 2025, in Municipal Council Chambers The city attorney did not have any comments. The following comments were made by council members: Councilman Jones informed council about a complaint he had received about the garbage behind Walmart and that he told the complainant the property is private property. Vice Mayor Caruso inquired if any progress had been made about the car and the junk on 12th Street or State Route 619. The city asked the city attorney to address the vice mayor's inquiry. Mr. Dotson provided legal counsel related to this property, and discussion about the property and ways to address this followed. Vice Mayor Caruso said with the consent of council we need to take whatever the next step is, because we have talked about this for a long, long time. Councilman Salyers asked what the city ordinance was that would deal with abandoned vehicles that are up on blocks within the city limits. Mr. Dotson said he had not looked at the code sections in quite some time and did not have a good answer, but he would be glad to look at it. He said Norton Code Official and Zoning Administrator Winfred Collins would probably have a better working understanding of those code sections, and he would be glad to speak with him to see if there was a more expeditious way to deal with this issue. Mayor Fawbush discussed the terrible road conditions on High Knob and asked if the local U.S. Forest Service ranger could speak to council about what is happening on High Knob. The mayor said he was glad to see that the Retail Sales Tax Report was positive again. Upon a motion by Councilman Caruso, seconded by Councilman Salyers, and passed by the following vote: YES Jones, Salyers, Caruso and Fawbush, NO - None, ABSENT - Fultz, ABSTAIN - None, council moved to adjourn the council meeting. CITY OF NORTON, VIRGINIA FyhkE 4 Joseph Fawbush, Mayor ATTEST: Jeffèry A. Shupe, Clerk of Council