The Shadow
On Tuesday evening, March 12, the Clifton Forge City Council held their regularly scheduled meeting to discuss regular business, the hiring of a new town clerk, hiring of a new town attorney, a few brief, moving comments by veteran Bill Atherholt, and a presentation by Captain Chris Fisher.
Following the convocation —led by Fisher— and pledge of allegiance, it was time to officially start the meeting. Colonel Chris Fisher was first up on the docket to give a brief presentation on the annual “Youth Day Rodeo,” scheduled for Saturday, May 4. The “Youth Day Rodeo” is an annual event with this year marking its 28th year. It is sponsored by local law enforcement agencies, is intended for youth between the ages of 4-14, and will include, according to the press release, “a magic show, bicycle safety, games, area youth dancers, and a bike giveaway which will include over 100 bikes.”
Fisher also noted that food would be provided at the highly anticipated event. The Virginian Review reached out to Mr. Fisher by phone to discuss the event and Fisher was quick to stress how grateful he was to the community for all of their support and how appreciative they all were for every single donor who makes the event possible each year.
Immediately after Fisher’s presentation, the council discussed last year’s gift of $200 and how they could continue to support law enforcement’s efforts to give children bicycles at this year’s “Youth Day Rodeo.” Due to inflation, they unanimously voted to double the size of their gift to $400.
Following Fisher’s presentation and a few orders of regular business, Clifton Forge Mayor Jeff Irvine moved to discuss “Action Item B: CFMS (Clifton Forge Main Street) is asking to close Commercial Street between Ace Hardware and former PrimisBank lot from 10:30am to 12:30pm.on March 30th for the Easter Bonnet/Hat Parade.” The request is slightly different from the original request due to new owners of the PrimisBank alerting the town of Clifton Forge that construction would be underway for the building.
Typically, judging occurs in the parking lot of the old PrimisBank building. However, due to the heavy equipment that will be present and the potential for citizens to get hurt, the McConnells (who recently purchased the building to turn it into a coffee shop, complete with drive-thru) wanted to take extra precautions to keep locals safe. This new information then prompted CFMS to adjust the boundaries on their initial request to exclude the parking lot of the old PrimisBank. Council then voted unanimously to grant the updated request from CFMS.
There were no discussion items, so the meeting then shifted to allow Town Manager Chuck Unroe to speak on the water lines in Clifton Forge which are scheduled for repair in early April and “…continue ‘til they’re all repaired,” Unroe said. “There’s a lot of rough spots in town we know we have to deal with.”
Town Manager Chuck Unroe then addressed the water plant, seemingly because there was no report and he wished to keep the citizens well informed of the ongoing water issue following the notice that residents received. “We now have a class 1 operator, a class 2 operator, and 3 trainees that are in cue to start testing and —hopefully by this year, time next year— we should have three class 3 operators heading toward a full staff later in the year with all class 2 or better.” Unroe also discussed a new requirement by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) that now requires towns to “have an inventory started by this October of all the potential lead and copper service lines leading into residents in our locality.” Amanda Gunter (Public Works veteran) has signed up to take the courses necessary to fulfill that requirement for the town. “We will meet that deadline in October with no problems,” Unroe promised.
Unroe then went on to announce the hiring of the new deputy clerk of council/administrative assistant to town manager, Kyla Crosier. Crosier replaces Taylor Ginger who has held the position for the past two years. Ginger was promoted to Accounts Clerk 3 in charge of payroll and took over that position previously held by Wendy Biggs. Biggs, too, was promoted to the finance department following the departure of Bridget Goff.
“Kyla Crosier will be starting here on Monday [March 18],” said Unroe. “She brings a wealth of knowledge, she’s been serving as clerk in Covington for a while, she has the background that we needed, and the experience that we needed. I feel like she’s going to be a good addition to the staff here and she brings the experience that we need to help us continue to move forward in a positive manner.”
Veteran Bill Atherholt also spoke during the public comments portion of the meeting to discuss the replica of the “Vietnam Veterans Wall” frequented by thousands, if not millions, of tourists each year. As previously reported by the Virginian Review, the replica will be coming to the Jackson River Sports Complex in Covington later this year and is nearly 400 feet long. Atherholt became choked up, moving the crowd as he discussed the statistics which included how many names were on the wall, how many were brothers, and how many were fathers and sons.
Other business included:
— Council unanimously voted to approve the minutes for the February 13, 2024 meeting.
— Council unanimously voted to approve the department reports (police department, public works, library, code enforcement, and fire department. The water plant had no report.)
— Town Manager Chuck Unroe discussed a grant that was awarded to the town of over $2 million that will “help the town and its businesses,” including a portion to allow the Masonic Theatre to replace all their entrance and exit doors.
— Following a closed session, council announced the hiring of new town attorney, Michael “Mike” Lockaby.
