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GC Owner Complains About Downtown Parking Problems

From staff reports

Some local business owners are once again raising concerns over limited parking in downtown Gate City.

And one of those owners asked the Gate City Town Council to consider some action to eliminate the problem

Joe Maya of Chris’ Department Store stated during public expression to express his distress over merchants allowing their employees to park in front of shops, when other options were available. Maya said that on his block alone, between six to eight customer parking spaces had been taken up by 9 a.m. by one merchant’s employees. However, he said, the problem was reflected all through the town.

“We need those saved for our customers,” Maya said. “I don’t think I have to explain the consequences of those parking spaces being lost.” Customers have to walk a block and a half from available parking to his store, Maya stated, because of retailers’ employees taking up spaces.

Council member Frances Perry suggested the Town Manager write a letter to merchants urging that they voluntarily urge their employees to make use of off-street parking. Maya suggested that a letter coming from the town’s police department might be of more effect; however, while they agreed with his concerns, council stopped short of saying who would address the letters.

Mayor Mark Jenkins stated that they would try persuasion first, and try other measures if that failed.

In regular session, the council reviewed bids from various contractors to make repairs and improvements to the water system. After deliberating and discussing options, the council decided to move forward on the three most critical repairs, and explore funding options for the rest of the package.

GC Town Manager Jason Stewart said that there was a good chance that many of the costs could be reimbursed in the next grant cycle. However, the town would have to expend the funds first, as the grants involved were reimbursement grants.

Several sections of the town’s water system not up to par.

“We’ve been treating this system like it’s dying,” Jenkins said, “but the regional water system is 10 to 12 years away at best.”

There was a general consensus that repairs and maintenance had been allowed to slide under former management due to the expectation that a regional water system would replace Gate City’s water works.

Roger Cassell, who serves as chief of the Gate City Volunteer Fire Department and on the town council, said he and members of the department discussed several issues concerning the Gate City Christmas Parade with the council. Cassell reported that the starting time of the parade had been moved to 5:30 p.m. at the request of several merchants in the town.

“We had actually had requests that we move the parade into daytime hours, but this seemed like the best solution to us,” he said.

Assistant Chief Jamie Lawson asked council to consider appropriate funding for the candy handed on by Santa Claus at the county courthouse. Council directed that $500 from the fire department’s miscellaneous line item go toward the candy purchase.

Cassell mentioned safety concerns with the parade that also centered around candy. Several float and truck drivers, he said, had expressed concern over children running out into the street to try to get candy being thrown from the floats. The drivers could see the child start toward the float to get the candy, but weren’t able to tell where they were closer in to the vehicles.

He also mentioned the fact that much of the candy seemed to get run over by vehicles in the parade rather than make it to the children.

After a brief discussion, the council recommended that candy not be allowed to thrown from floats. Rather, it was suggested that those wishing to distribute candy have people walk away from the floats and actually hand the candy to children. The town will also attempt to distribute treat bags to children and parents to keep the candy in.

Virginia law requires candy and other items distributed during a parade must be handed out by persons who are walking. Candy cannot be thrown from a moving vehicle at any time in a parade.

The council also agreed that the Gate City’s Girls Volleyball Team serve as the grand marshals of the parade, in recognition of their accomplishments.

While technically the Fire Department selects the grand marshal and sponsors the parade, the department wanted to involve the town, Cassell said, “because it’s the Gate City parade.”

Finally, Cassell reported that Santa would likely be in a horse-drawn buggy this year; rather than the usual Gate City Fire Truck. Cassell said Mrs. Claus said that it was getting more difficult at Santa’s age to negotiate the steps up into the truck, especially when combined with the chimneys at Christmastime.

Andrea Sheppard and Dr. Steve Adkins representing the Adkins subdivision requested the town take over their water system. Residents of the subdivision had expected to be included in the Red Hill Road/Manville water project, but were not.

They had at one time submitted a petition asking that the subdivision be taken into the town limits; and recommendations from both the Town Council and the Planning Commission had supported this. However, the final boundary adjustment did not include those properties.

Town officials will explore further the options involved in both another boundary line adjustment, and the issues involved in taking over the Adkins Subdivision Water System. Adkins said that he didn’t know of any resident who was opposed to being taken into the town, and suggested it would be possible to obtain another petition from the subdivision to that effect.

The Budget and Finance Committee was to meet concerning potentially submitting a sealed bid towards the purchase of a used police car from Weber City. Town Attorney Mike Carrico strongly cautioned the town about exceeding the legal limits on spending without going through procurement. He also mentioned the irony of addressing the subject of a sealed bid in a public meeting, and noted that there were no closed meeting exemptions that would allow a closed meeting on the subject.

A line for not-for-profit businesses was added to the town’s Business License Report form, at the recommendation of the Planning Commission.

However, the line is there only for those not-for-profits that for some reason desire to have a town-issued business license. The change stemmed from a request from Spirit Borne Ministries, who had been told by a financial institution that they needed proof of operating in the town in order to open an account.

In other business related to the Planning Commission, Kim Jenkins and Vikki Roberts were reappointed to their seats on the commission.

One vacancy now exists on the commission. Stewart stated that the position had been advertised, but that no one had applied to date.

Council members briefly discussed the annual Thanksgiving dinner for employees and appointees, which will be held at Scott County Park at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 22. Town Hall will close at noon to allow employees to close out their shifts before coming to the dinner.

Council did go into closed session to discuss personnel issues and potential litigation; however, no motions resulted from the closed session. Council adjourned after voting to pay the bills.

The Gate City Town Council meets the second Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in the town hall auditorium. All meetings are open to the public.

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