On Wednesday, Sept. 11, the Farmville Town Council held their monthly council meeting at 7 p.m. in the Council Chamber of Town Hall, located at 116 N. Main Street.
Town Manager Gerry Spates led the meeting by discussing renovations to the Farmville swimming pool located at the Farmville Municipal Golf Course.
Reading statistics gained during the summer over a period of two-and-a-half months. A total of 2,773 people visited the pool with an average of 35 swimmers per day. There were nine days in August during which the pool was closed. Currently, the pool has been drained of all water for inspection of any damage.
Spates commented that there are some necessary renovations that need to be made to the swimming pool that may go up to $60,000 or more. With the possible renovations, he said that it would save the Council more money to do so than to maintain upkeep.
Renovations would include removing a fiberglass liner placed over the concrete of the pool and to fix any damaged concrete as well.
The pool was renovated two years ago by a company that is currently out of business.
Spates stated that the product was not applied properly, causing the fiberglass liner to peel from the concrete.
Spates proposed to either renovate the pool or to fill it in with concrete and have the space be used as tennis courts.
Spates said, “I can’t say that every time you do a recreation program that you’re going to make money off of it.”
David Whitus, at-large council member, proposed to send the matter to the Finance Committee for them to discuss what the best course of action would be.
The Town Council moved to have the Finance Committee make the decision to renovate the pool or not.
The next order of business regarded a waterline project discussed in the previous Town Council meeting on Aug. 7. The project entails the installation of a waterline on Andrews Drive. According to the minutes from the Aug. 7 council meeting, the ground tank on Andrews Drive and at the Public Works building will be taken off line to produce some salvage value.
“The waterline should be complete in seven ... months and the elevated tank shortly after,” reported the minutes.
Spates notified the Council that a letter of interest from an engineer has already been received.
Spates then spoke about various streets that Longwood University has shown interest in purchasing to gain the right to park on them.
There is still discussion on the agreement before finalizing the terms.
The streets in question include Race Street, Pine Street, Franklin Street, Redford Street, Madison Street and Spruce Street.
Longwood University will produce a $125,000 lump sum to purchase the streets. Some of the aforementioned streets will not be bought, but leased on a $10,000 per year arrangement.
Spates assured the Council that Longwood University will be in charge of upkeep for the streets or positions of the streets that will be bought or leased .
Edward Gordon, Ward A council member, brought up the possibility of moving the center line on Griffin Boulevard more to the West to allow parking by the campus dormitories. He added that allowing students, faculty or staff to rent parking places on one side of the street may allow more profit for the Town.
Members of the Town Concil council member, brought up the possibility of moving the center line on Griffin Boulevard more to the West to allow parking by the campus dormitories. He added that allowing students, faculty or staff to rent parking places on one side of the street may allow more profit for the Town. other locations have expressed
interest in assisting. There is hope for Cumberland County to provide a third of the cost for the USGS, and Spates reported that Powhatan County was interested in contributing monetarily as well.
Spates stated that the deadline for the payment to the USGS is Sept. 11, 2014, a year from the day the contract was signed.
Discussion than moved to motion a refund of $222.72 for a business license to Dr. Edward Gordon, Ward A council member.
The Council moved to agenda items. One item included that profit on fuel for the past two months was $11,010.55.
There have been concerns about the traffic lights on Griffin Street, Oak Street and High Street. A new traffic control box will be installed as well as mast arms, or aluminum poles. The installations should help control the intersections by having the stop lights run on four protected cycles and by running off of cameras.
Spates commented that the new changes will not alter the speed of the stop lights, but will prevent further accidents.
There was further discussion on a possible training to be held Nov. 2 at the Farmer’s Market, located at 213 North Street. The Office of Environmental Health, Occupational Safety and Emergency Management at Longwood University plans to simulate events with casualties to train guests how to respond in need of an emergency.
Throughout the simulations, any damage to the property is not expected. The estimated time the event may begin is at 3 p.m.
A PowerPoint presentation by Chris Bolt, Director of Recreation in the Town of Farmville, presented various summer camp programs that occurred this previous summer, including soccer camp, basketball camp, outdoor adventure camp and more.
Scholarships were given to students based on need.
Doug Mooney, chief of the Farmville Police Department, spoke of stealth radar boxes that were put on poles on areas of High Street where there have reportedly been speeding complaints. The stealth radar boxes give the true reading of the speed of cars, according to Mooney.
The results of the data collected indicated that speeds of 28 miles per hour were in the 15th percentile and the 85th percentile saw speeds of 33 miles per hour. With these results, Mooney commented that speeds were within a tolerance level.
The next Town Council meeting will be held Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m.
