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Cape Charles Gazette | |
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Publication Date: February 20, 2008 | ||
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Mayor |
Welcome to the official Town of Cape Charles Newsletter. This publication is available by submitting your email address to gazette@capecharles.org or by contacting the Town Office at 757-331-3259 x10.
The information contained in this newsletter is considered to be the “official word" on the Town’s activities as noted by our Town Manager. The Cape Charles Gazette will be a news source that will report weekly events, upcoming Town activities, articles of interest to our citizens, Town projects, safety & security issues, and emergency announcements. We hope that you will enjoy receiving the Cape Charles Gazette. For additional information please go to the Town’s website at http://www.capecharles.org/ or contact us at gazette@capecharles.org. CODE ENFORCEMENT Doug Smith, Code Enforcement Officer, reported that he joined the Eastern Shore Disaster Preparedness Coalition and attended their January 2008 meeting. Doug also reported that he was appointed to the Exercise Design Team for the Point of Distribution Joint Training Exercise scheduled for the fall of 2008. This is a full scale exercise that will deal with commodity flow of necessities (i.e. food, water, tents) from predetermined sites in Northampton and Accomack Counties in the event of an emergency. Doug was also nominated and elected to the Executive Steering Committee. Doug is scheduled to attend the Emergency Management Institute in February 2008 regarding FEMA and their Community Rating System for floodplain managers. For those of you who are unaware of this; The Town of Cape Charles has approximately 500 buildings in the flood plain yet only some 56 residents have Flood Insurance. If anyone wants to confirm their status about living in a flood plain please come to the Town Hall to view our records. Doug met with Baymark Construction this week to discuss Erosion & Sedimentation (E & S) Control at Bayside Village and came to an agreement on deferred seeding and silt fence restoration. E & S is a major issue here on the Eastern Shore and it not only protects your property but also helps protect the Bay. Jeb Brady, Assistant Code Enforcement Officer, was accepted to the Virginia Fire Marshal Academy # 1032 after passing the various entry examinations. This is a major step forward in bringing a Fire Marshal Program to Cape Charles. This will also tie into the Town Manager’s Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) for the Town that Doug and Jeb are diligently working on. Doug and Jeb have already submitted drafts for hurricane and winter storm responses regarding the EOP. The concept of the Town’s EOP is to interface with the Northampton County’s EOP but at the same time keep Cape Charles self sufficient for a minimum of 72 hours to meet the unique demands of the citizens. Code Enforcement has approved and closed 6 sump pump inspection cases this week in their on going efforts to assist Public Utilities to promote water purity and conservation. HARBOR Smitty Dize, Harbor Master, reported that he attended the first Blessing of the Fleet Meeting at the Town Hall. Smitty noted that this event is scheduled for Friday, April 4, 2008 and will start at 5:00 PM and end at 9:00 PM. The event will be held at the Town Harbor. Smitty also reported that the widening of the docks project continues and he expects to have the project completed this week. Smitty sent a special thanks to Public Utilities and Public Works for working very hard over the last week in locating and repairing a major water leak in the Harbor area. Smitty said he met with our good friend and neighbor Chief Jack Williamson (OIC, USCG Station Cape Charles) regarding the offshore breakwater. The Chief said that he’ll contact his command and advise them of Cape Charles’ efforts to get breakwater in the west harbor. Chief Williamson and his Executive Officer CPO David Dickenson also attended our Blessing of the Fleet meeting. Smitty said that he and his Crew (Kent Pruitt and Kathleen Stevens) have started sending out the new slip rental agreements to boaters and hope to ascertain the availability of “open slips" for the people on the waiting list. Smitty reported that there are 52 people on the waiting list for slips at the Town Harbor. We previously reported that the Town has increased their fees at the Harbor and we’d like to note that the last time we had an increase in Harbor fees was in February 2006. We also increased the fees at the loading dock after we discovered that the current fees were well below the Virginia Port Authority fee of $4.00 a ton and the Town was charging .50 a ton. Smitty said that all of the Town slips have already been “booked" for the Memorial Day weekend. LIBRARY & TOWN CLERK Ann Rutledge, the Town Librarian, reported that the Preschool & Toddler Story Time was held this past Thursday and 6 persons attended the event. Ann also reported that she attended the Annual Career Day at Northampton High School and displayed a collection of Cape Charles Library materials and handed out flyers and book marks. Over 30 people attended the Library’s Third Annual Poetry Slam at the Cape Charles Coffee House. It was an amazing variety of talent that ranged from very poignant poems about Viet Nam to a budding local artist named Fabian who is making his way towards Russell Simmons DEF JAM POETRY. The event was outstanding and well organized! Joy Pelletier, the Town Clerk, reported that the Clerk’s Office shredded over 1113 pounds of outdated Town materials and completed several FOIA (Freedom Of Information Act) requests. Joy stated that she is also working on a proposal for digitizing and indexing the last 10 years of Council Minutes. In addition to all of these time consuming projects; both she and Linda Carola, Assistant Town Clerk, are working on minutes from board and commissions, updating the Town’s Website with Planning Commission minutes and continuing their tasking with retention/archiving day to day operations. Thank you for all the hard work Ladies! PLANNING & RECREATION Tom Bonadeo, Town Planner, worked with the Director of Planning in Gloucester County regarding their Route 17 overlay district. Tom is working on an overlay for both Route 13 and Route 642 (Old Cape Charles Road) and the Gloucester Plan is being used as a model for the Town of Cape Charles. In case you don’t know; the developers of the STIP are looking at turning Route 642 into a straight road that can be utilized by both the STIP and Bay Shore Concrete. This will help the traffic flow into both areas as well as the traffic flow into the Harbor Development Group’s proposed construction. This should not come as a surprise to anyone if you have been following Council Meetings, Planning Commission Meetings, and Public Information Sessions etc. If anyone needs additional details regarding this information please call the Town Hall at 331-3259 X 15 for details. Nothing is written in stone and you have an absolute right to voice an opinion. We welcome responses and opinions. Tom said he continues his work with Bay Creek, DHCD and the ANPDC on a plan for a grant to build a fiber-optic ring around the Town in conjunction with the larger Broadband Project. Tom has also continued his planning with Landmark Holdings on its application for conditional use on the old “Myers" property located on Mason Avenue. Jimmy Marvel, Youth Director, continues his presence at the Town Park and at the Heritage Acres Apartment Complex. Jimmy is working on the Youth Dance that will be held at the Cape Charles Volunteer Fire Department on Friday, March 28, 2008. Jimmy reminds everyone that the Town will host a CHILDREN AND YOUTH, ILLEGAL DRUGS: IMPACT ON THE EASTERN SHORE presentation on Thursday, March 13, 2008 beginning at 6:00 PM also at the Cape Charles Volunteer Fire Department. This event is being sponsored by the Youth Director (Jimmy), the Cape Charles Police Department and The American Legion Post 56 (Walt Dallenbach, Commander). This is a free event and the second in a series of programs aimed at helping children & youth on the Eastern Shore. The Cape Charles Committee on Children and Youth (CCCCY) still has openings for adult mentors and anyone interested in this great program should contact Roberta Newman or Chuck Little at newroads_consulting@earthlink.net. The CCCCY is leading the way to support the children and youth of Cape Charles. Ms. Newman is a nationally recognized expert in this field. Please help support the CCCCY. POLICE Chief David Eder reported that the Cape Charles Police Department (CCPD) has issued over 17 Traffic Summons since the beginning of this month and most of them were for speeding. Chief Eder also reported that the Town of Cape Charles did not have any reportable crimes for the month of January 2008. The CCPD is required to file out an IBR sheet (Incident Based Reporting) every month and this report is forwarded to the VA State Police for statistical analysis. The IBR covers incidents such as rapes, robbery, assaults, stolen cars etc. Unfortunately we didn’t get away so lucky this month. Chief Eder said that the CCPD is actively investigating a suspicious fire that destroyed equipment at a location in Town and they are conducting follow up investigations on some domestic assaults that also occurred in the Town. The CCPD also noted that several citizens are not paying attention to our Motor Vehicle & Traffic Code. Specifically; Section 42-63 General time limit for parking which reads “The parking of any vehicle in the same place on the streets of the Town for more than 48 continuous hours is prohibited". The CCPD is willing to work with everyone regarding this law; however we now have a situation where an individual left/ abandoned his vehicle on Mason Avenue for over 4 months. This is the type of situation that ruins it for everyone and we ask that you notify the CCPD or Town Hall if you’re having car trouble. The “idea" of just leaving a vehicle on a public street until you can repair it is no longer acceptable in Cape Charles. These vehicles will now be towed at the owner’s expense. ASSISTANT TOWN MANAGER & TOWN MANAGER There are over 330 persons signed up for the Cape Charles Gazette and we thank all of you for the positive feedback on this weekly report. Included in this issue of the Gazette you’ll find some very interesting statistics regarding Northampton County and other surrounding areas. This information was provided by Ms. Laurie Naismith who is the Legislative Assistant to Delegate Lynwood W. Lewis Jr. The facts concern population, voting, economy, health, public safety and education. We thank Ms. Naismith for her continued support to the Town of Cape Charles. A full-size .pdf file of this image is also available on the Town's web site.
Councilman John Burdiss would like to remind everyone that the date to file candidacy papers for a seat on the Cape Charles Town Council is Tuesday, March 4, 2008. If you’re interested in serving this great community please go to the Voter Registration Office in Eastville and fill out the proper paperwork. The Town Manager has also offered to conduct a Candidate Forum for all registered Town Council candidates within the next week. The forum will include a briefing by the Town staff on the Harbor, STIP, Trail, public safety issues, VDOT, the Water Treatment Plant, the Waste Water Treatment Plant, recreation issues, the Library, upcoming Town events, Town Boards & Commissions etc. While the Town understands that some of the Town Council applicants might already have a good background in these issues we want to ensure everyone has a fair chance in responding to fellow citizen’s questions. We highly encourage every citizen to vote for the candidates of their choice and vote on abilities not personalities. We have a great Town Council now and we need to keep moving “forward" not “backward". Mayor Sullivan sent an email to Northampton County Supervisor Katie Nunez and respectfully requested that the Northampton County consider changing their Board of Supervisors Meeting to another night other than the second Tuesday of the month. The second Tuesday of the month has always been the Cape Charles Town Council Meeting night and when the county unexpectedly switched their meeting nights it caused the Town to “split" some of the Town staff to attend these County meetings. This is especially difficult now with all of the ongoing projects in Cape Charles and we need the support and guidance of the County on several matters. This is near impossible to achieve with meetings on the same night. Mayor Sullivan is considering other options if the County balks at this request. ANNOUNCEMENT FROM SUPERVISOR BURDEN District 2 Supervisor Dave Burden, our representative on the Northampton County Board of Supervisors, will meet citizens from our area at the Cheriton Fire House on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 starting at 6:00 PM. Topics to be covered include the ongoing county-wide reassessment and the county's elderly and handicapped tax relief program. There will be a Q&A period as well, so please come out and tell him what issues are on your mind. No RSVP necessary. If you have any questions, please email supervisorburden@gmail.com All information contained in this publication is believed to be true and correct at the time of publication. If you wish to discontinue receiving this newsletter, please click on the link below. Municipal Corporation of Cape Charles Copyright © 2008. All rights reserved. | |
The purpose of this electronic newsletter is to pass factual, informative and timely information to the citizens of Cape Charles and to any other individuals who have a business, property, travel or historical interest in our Town.