Monterey Town Council Gets Back To Work After Elections

Monterey, VA – The Monterey election returned the Mayor and all six incumbent Town Council members to office earlier this week. In their first meeting following the election, the council members focused on completing work on next year’s budget. After Mayor Janice Warner summarized the budget, a motion was passed to publish the budget in the Recorder and to hold a public hearing on the budget at the June council meeting. The final budget can then be adopted before July 1.

Mayor Warner gave the board an update on the waste water treatment plant. The work is going well and the contractor hopes to test the plant in late May and then start it up and put it into operation in June. Two flow meters have been installed to monitor increased water flow after it rains. This information will allow modifications to the sewer lines to prevent large increases in water flow to the treatment plant that can interfere with the treatment process.

DEQ has also asked the town to consider requiring sewer customers to replace the pipes connecting their residences to the town sewer lines. Mayor Warner feels that this is too much to ask of the citizens of Monterey at present and she will request that this be delayed until after the new waste water treatment plant has been started up so the town can insure it will perform as expected.

Mayor Warner has been in touch with Houston Smith regarding the work on Mill Alley. He expects to begin soon and does not anticipate any problems. The goal of the work is to stabilize the banks of Mill Creek to prevent further erosion of the Mill Alley road bed.

In other business, the council wants to get Jerry Rexrode to replace the sidewalks around the First and Citizens Bank building at the corner of Spruce Street and West Main street. Mr. Rexrode has given the council an estimate on the job and hopes to complete the work during the next 6 weeks. Councilman Fenn suggested that the next sidewalk project should be the stretch in front of the H & H Cash Store. The council has budgeted the money to pay for this work and hopes to get an estimate so work can begin soon.

The council is looking into moving the town elections to election day in November. Combining the town election with the state and federal elections would save the town money. This change will require amending the town charter and getting approval of the Virginia general assembly. Council members hope to start the process changing the town charter over the summer.

The Highland Co Rescue Squad has asked an engineer to come to Monterey and look over the Carver meadow property as a possible site for construction of its new building. If the site is favorable, the rescue squad hopes to bring a proposal to the council in the near future.

The town council will hold a joint meeting with the planning commission on May 27 to review some zoning ordinance changes.