Minutes of the New Market 2 Town Council Meeting 3 Tuesday, February 18th, 2025 4 6:30 pm 5 6 The New Market Town Council met in the Council Chambers of Arthur L. 7 Hildreth, Jr. Municipal Building on Tuesday, February 18th, 2025, with the following 8 members present: Mayor Peter Hughes, Bob King, Larry Bompiani, Janice Hannah, and 9 Scott Wymer. Vice-Mayor Peg Harkness and council member Daryi Watkins were 10 absent. 11 12 Mayor Hughes called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. and established a quorum 13 with 6 members present. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison. Mayor Hughes 14 welcomed all visitors and guests. 15 16 Approval of the Agenda:- 17 18 Mr. King moved to approve the agenda as presented, and Mr. Bompiani 19 seconded the motion. With no further discussion, the motion was carried out with a 20 unanimous 5-0 vote. 21 22 Mrs. Harkness Aye Mr. Watkins Absent 23 Mr. King Aye Mrs. Hannah Aye 24 Mr. Bompiani Aye Mr. Wymer Aye 25 26 27 28 Consent Agenda: 29 30 Mr. Wymer moved to approve the Consent Agenda which included the 31 minutes from minutes from January 21st, 2025, Meeting of the New Market Town 32 Council, and February 3rd, 2025, Joint Public Hearing ofthe New Market Town 33 Council and the New Market Planning Commission and the financial statements for 34 January 2025. 35 36 Mrs. Hannah seconded the motion, with no further discussion, the motion 37 was carried out with a unanimous vote of 5-0. 38 39 Mrs. Harkness Aye Mr. Watkins Absent 40 Mr. King Aye Mrs. Hannah Aye 41 Mr. Bompiani Aye Mr. Wymer Aye 42 43 44 Public Hearing: none 45 46 47 48 49 4 of 24 50 Citizen Comments and Petitions: 51 52 James Kelly of Robinson, Farmer, Cox Association presented on the FY2024 Audit. 53 There are no issues reported. A copy oft the presentation is on file with the minutes. 54 55 Committee Reports: none 56 57 58 59 Staff Reports: 60 61 1. Public Works Department Monthly Report - Mr. J. D. Fadley 62 Mr. Fadley gave a Power Point presentation. Mr. Fadley reported that due to the 63 cold weather the public works department had five water issues due to frozen meters or 64 frozen pipes. There were two customers that had busted water pipes. There was a water 65 main repair at 9295 N. Congress St. There was a sewer back up at 9395 S. Congress St. 66 that was fixed. He reported they worked on snow and ice removal from streets and 67 continued to complete their monthly routine maintenance of the park, and the street and 68 sidewalks. The water department performed additional nitrate testing at wells per VDH. 69 They worked on the CIP and Budget for 2025-2026. They repaired the meter at Quality 70 Inn. The 2024 end of year filings and the lead and copper filings and updates were 71 completed. They worked on thawing or replacing several frozen meters and assisted with 72 snow removal. A copy ofthe presentation is on file with the minutes. 73 74 2. Planning Department Monthly Report - Ms. Summer Barden 75 Ms. Barden reported that there were two temporary use permits for food trucks 76 approved for 9383 N. Congress Street. 77 78 3. Public Safety Monthly Report - ChiefChris Rinker 79 Chief Rinker gave a Power Point presentation. He reported there were 285 calls .80 for the month, and a total of 285 calls for the year, 125 extra patrols, and 1-foot patrols. 81 He gave an overview of the detailed list of calls with nothing unusual to report in the 82 numbers. A copy ofthe presentation is on file with the minutes. 83 84 4. Events & Marketing Monthly Report - Ms. Savannah Frazier 85 Ms. Savannah Frazier presented a power point presentation. She is working on 86 planning for 2025 events and continues to plan for add-on programs and events for shop 87 local incentives. She gave a marketing update. A copy ofthe presentation is on file with 88 the minutes. She reported that she attended a Virginia Main Street Interchange webinar. 89 The spring semester JMU Intern is volunteering I0 hours a week and helping with 90 research, event development and working with downtown businesses for marketing 91 support. Working with John Fogle as he comes up with new business support 92 collaborations. There will be a grand opening on March 13th for HomeGrown Real Estate. 93 She reported there is now a page for New Market features and recognition on our 94 website. 95 96 97 98 5of24 99 Action Items: 100 101 The first action item was the discussion and consideration ofthe New Market 102 Community Center roof. Mr. Garrison noted that the council members had a quote from 103 Skyline Roofing for the roof at the community center. This quote is for the gym roof. He 104 wanted to note that there was asbestos found in the flashing along the perimeter. This 105 quote does reflect the cost of a contractor addressing that issue. He explained that the 106 gymnasium roof was in need of replacement and is actively leaking. 107 108 Mr. Bompiani moved to replace the gymnasium roof and the main building 109 roof, not to include the cafeteria roof, with a cost estimate not to exceed $350,000. 110 Mrs. Hannah seconded the motion. Mr. Bompiani inquired about the bids, and if 111 they all were quoting each section. Mr. Garrison stated that there were other bids, 112 but some were just for the gym area. Discussion was held about the cost difference 113 between the bids to confirm the $350,000 cap amount would be enough. Mrs. 114 Harkness inquired about the timeline for this, and Mr. Garrison stated it would be 115 best to get both roofs done at the same time instead of splitting it up. With no 116 further discussion, the motion was carried out with a unanimous vote of5-0. 117 118 Mrs. Harkness Aye Mr. Watkins Absent 119 Mr. King Aye Mrs. Hannah Aye 120 Mr. Bompiani Aye Mr. Wymer Aye 121 122 123 124 The second action item was the discussion and consideration oft the proposed Tobacco, 125 Smoke and Vape Shops ordinance. Ms. Barden gave a brief overview of the ordinance 126 and the need for the proposed ordinance. She stated that the Planning Commission did 127 recommend for the ordinance to go before the council for approval. 128 129 Mr. Bompiani moved to adopt the proposed Tobacco, Smoke and Vape Shops 130 ordinance. Mrs. Harkness seconded the motion. With no further discussion, the 131 motion was carried out with a unanimous vote of 5-0. 132 133 Mrs. Harkness Aye Mr. Watkins Absent 134 Mr. King Aye Mrs. Hannah Aye 135 Mr. Bompiani Aye Mr. Wymer Aye 136 137 138 The third action item was the discussion and consideration of a recommendation to the 139 Circuit Court for an appointment to the Board ofZoning Appeals (BZA). Mr. Garrison 140 explained that Mr. Charles 'Eddie' Litten's appointment to the BZA expires at the end of 141 the month. 142 143 Mr. King moved to recommend the Board ofZoning Appeals appointment of Mr. 144 Charles "Eddie" Litten to the circuit court and authorize the Town Attorney to file 145 the petition. Mrs. Harkness seconded the motion. With no further discussion, the 146 motion was carried out with a unanimous vote of5-0. 147 6 of24 148 Mrs. Harkness Aye Mr. Watkins Absent 149 Mr. King Aye Mrs. Hannah Aye 150 Mr. Bompiani Aye Mr. Wymer Aye 151 Mayor's Comments: 152 153 154 Council Comments: 155 Mayor Hughes gave thanks to the Public Works department for the prompt snow 156 removal. 157 158 Staff Comments: 159 Mr. Garrison reported that the request for ownership of our secondary streets passed in 160 the House, but stalled in the Senate, and the bill will not move forward. Mr. Garrison 161 explained that there was concern about the snowball effect and how many towns would 162 request the same, and they were worried about funding. In order for us to make this 163 happen we need to increase our population. Mr. Bompiani stated he was very 164 disappointed that there was a lot of work put into this, and our streets are not being taken 165 care ofby the state. Mr. Garrison did state the VDOT, and our elected officials were 166 supportive. 167 168 169 Closed Session: 170 171 Mrs. Harkness moved to go into a closed session to consult with legal counsel 172 regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision oflegal advice by our 173 attorney, as authorized by section 2.2-3711(A)(8) ofthe state code. The subject 174 matter oft the meeting is the Voluntary Settlement Agreement. Mr. Bompiani 175 seconded the motion. With no further discussion, the motion was carried out with a 176 unanimous vote of5-0. 177 178 179 Mrs. Harkness Aye Mr. Watkins Absent 180 Mr. King Aye Mrs. Hannah Aye 181 Mr. Bompiani Aye Mr. Wymer Aye 182 183 184 Mrs. Harkness made a motion to return from Closed Session and read aloud the 185 following Certification Resolution: With respect to the just-concluded Closed 186 Session and to the best of each member's knowledge, (i) only public business 187 matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements under The Virginia 188 Freedom ofInformation Act and (ii) only such public business matters as were 189 identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, 190 discussed or considered in the meeting by the Town Council. Mr. Bompiani 191 seconded the motion which passed on the following 5-0 roll call vote: 192 193 Mrs. Harkness Aye Mr. Watkins Absent 194 Mr. King Aye Mrs. Hannah Aye 195 Mr. Bompiani Aye Mr. Wymer Aye 196 7of24 197 Adjournment: 198 199 With no further business to discuss, at 8:49 p.m. Mr. Wymer made a motion 200 to adjourn the meeting. Mrs. Hannah seconded the motion, with no further 201 discussion the motion passed on a unanimous 5-0 voice vote. 202 203 Pyhh 204 Peter Hughes,Mayor 205 206 N. Garrison, Town Clerk 80 of24