WAYNE CREED Goes to a Town Council Meeting

EDITOR’S NOTE: In the absence of other reporting staff, Cape Charles’ most acerbic social critic, Wave columnist Wayne Creed, has recently donned a reportorial hat and dutifully recorded the actions of Northampton’s Board of Supervisors, which can be read in the news columns here and here. But in the column below, the indomitable Mr. Creed returns to his roots with an opinionated but highly informative commentary on Cape Charles Town Council’s first meeting of the new year.

By WAYNE CREED
Cape Charles Wave

January 19, 2015

With Christmas decorations ripped down, the sidewalks dark and lonely, the night cold and wet, the lights were turned on inside the Town Civic Center January 15 in order to conduct the first Town Council Regular Meeting of the New Year. Aside from two members of news media (Cape Charles Wave and Eastern Shore Post), only two other constituents braved the raw weather to attend. Mayor Proto himself arrived nearly 30 minutes late.

Town Council voted to request the Virginia Port Authority to carry over to the new year several grants previously awarded for harbor improvements. This includes $645,000 for offshore breakwaters and $185,000 for a wave attenuator and dock improvements. The VPA has altered the terms to a 75%-25% match, making the proposal more fiscally attractive. Local matching funds must still be identified for these projects. Councilman Steve Bennett aggressively questioned Harbormaster Smitty Dize in what appeared to be a leading manner, attempting to get Mr. Dize to acknowledge, or at least provide a modicum of actual requirements that might justify the request for funds.

“Are there no plans to spend the money (we have)? No contracts have been awarded?”

Mr. Dize only responded, “I’m with you,” and “the VPA likes Cape Charles. We spend their money.”

The motion to have Mayor Proto write a letter requesting the funds passed unanimously (Councilman Wendell was absent). There was no discussion by Council regarding who would actually write, edit, or approve the letter Mayor Proto is required to sign.

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The Ground Maintenance Contract award was approved, and awarded to Eastern Shore Lawn Maintenance. This contract includes both the leased railroad properties as well as Central Park. The three-year contract is funded as $18,000 per year for the railroad properties and $15,000 annually for the park.

Herbert Senn of Exmore was also awarded the HVAC project for the 2nd floor of the library. The estimated cost of this project is $7,000. Both the Ground Maintenance and the HVAC projects were awarded to single bidders, which led Councilman Bennett to question Public Works Director Dave Fauber, “Why do we have so many projects where we only have one bidder? Is it us, or is it something we are doing?”

Mr. Fauber agreed that there may be ways to improve the Town’s advertising process. “But much of it has to do with just the Eastern Shore,” he said. Bennett added that if there was some way to get more bids, more competition, the Town might be able to save money.

During the Public Works presentation, Councilman Bennett questioned Mr. Fauber as to why the Town’s new treatment plant was processing over a million more gallons of wastewater vs. the fresh water going to consumers. Fauber did not have a ready answer, although somewhat agreed with Councilman Sambo Brown that it may be due to high ground water.

With the issue still hanging, all eyes turned to resident wastewater expert and PSA representative Bob Panek. Mr. Panek attributed the million gallons to a rogue manhole cover, even as Mr. Fauber had just reported that his team had been surveying all the manholes in town, and that all but five were in good condition. Even the manholes that require work were deemed in relatively good shape, and would according to Fauber be repaired for under $20,000 as part of the capital improvements budget.

Mayor Proto asked Mr. Panek if the rogue manhole cover could actually account for the million gallons. Panek answered in the affirmative. No other questions or direction regarding determining the cause of the excessive water was given by Council.

Interim Town Manager Panek reported that the PSA, at the request of the Northampton County Board of Supervisors, had commissioned the firm of Hurt and Proffitt to explore the possibility of using the existing Bayview treatment plant as a possible source for servicing the southern node. In a somewhat vaudevillian exchange, Councilman Bennett prompted Mr. Panek with questions regarding the status and quality of the Bayview plant vs. the Cape Charles facility. Although the Hurt and Proffitt report has not been filed, Panek was quick to dismiss the Bayview plant as inadequate — even though it has plenty of  capacity to service the four commercial entities that have expressed marginal interest in the pipeline. Panek failed to mention that septic and drain fields have already been approved for the area making up the Southern node (and according to Federal and State agencies, may actually be the preferred mode for rural communities).

Kerry Allison, Executive Director of the Eastern Shore Tourism Commission, was on hand to provide an update on the agency’s future marketing blueprint. In a concise yet thorough presentation, Ms. Allison covered areas such as Key Data and Product Areas, Demographics, Tourist Originations, and high-level strategy and tactics. Allison noted that most visitors come from Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New York, and New Jersey. Age-wise, 39% are 45 to 64, 33% are 25 to 44, and 25% are 65 plus. A key goal for the agency is to attract more people in the 25 to 44 range. They hope to achieve this by leveraging a deep digital presence including social media such as Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

It what seemed like a surreal, Monty Pythonesque-moment of irony, after recently alerting the public that it is working diligently to remove contaminants such as chloroform, bromodichloromethane, dibromochloromethane, and bromoform from our drinking water, Cape Charles proudly accepted the yearly Water Fluoridation Quality Award.

During final Council comments, Councilman Chris Bannon asked those remaining in attendance to read an article (CLICK) in last month’s ANEC Cooperative Living magazine that explains how small towns survive (usually by open government, public input, serving the many rather than special interests of the few, taking special care for the underserved members of the community).

Given how recent policies championed by Mr. Bannon and Town Council have caused negative reactions from many residents, it is a welcome message from the councilman that no matter where you are in life, it’s never too late to learn from your mistakes.