The ShadowCLIFTON FORGE, Va. (VR) – Chuck Unroe, Town Manager, opened the first meeting of the new year on Jan. 14, with efforts to fulfill the reorganization of council members. Unroe asked for nominations for town mayor and Council Member Debbie Laudermilk offered a nomination for Ben Nicely while Dale Burdette offered a nomination for incumbent mayor, Jeff Irvine. In voting, Nicely received two votes from council and Irvine received three votes from council. With Jeff Irvine appointed as Mayor for 2025, nominations were then received for Vice-Mayor, where Dale Burdette was nominated and approved unanimously.
Council then voted to waive a second reading of the tax ordinance pertaining to widows of fallen officers and voted unanimously to approve the ordinance, helping spouses of first responders. With much appreciation for the town employees during recent weather events and water leaks, Chuck Unroe then advocated to give town employees five additional comp days taken at the employees’ discretion to be used within the 2025 calendar year. Before voting, Burdette encouraged council to move forward with the proposal saying, “It’s a good gesture to reward our employees for the hard work that they do.” The council then approved the proposal.
Parks and Trails presented an update on the purchase of several bench swings that will be placed on the sensory trail in the spring indicating that fundraisers from the Kristkindl event and the selling of milkweed seeds offered them the funds to support the project. Council approved the allocation of the funds to go towards the purchase of the swings and public works will install them. Currently on the Clifton Forge Parks and Trails Facebook page, there is a survey to encourage community engagement where residents can vote on the color of the swings to choose either blue or green.
Unroe then presented several updates on projects highlighting the beginning efforts to install a new software program that will update finances and residential accounts within the next 15 months as they transfer to the new system. He also mentioned to council that a final draft of the Jefferson School Project proposal would be sent to them this week. Lastly, he praised the public works department for their efforts in maintaining roads and water line projects during very cold temperatures after several winter weather events.
There were no public comments, so the council voted to move toward closed session to address several issues. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 7 p.m.
L-R: Carl Wolfe, Jeff Irvine, Dale Burdette (Jessica Freeman photo)
Ben Nicely (Jessica Freeman photo)
