Blacksburg Town Council Meeting - February 27, 2024
Blacksburg Town Council Regular Meeting – February 27, 2024
This was a regular meeting of the Blacksburg Town Council held on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, at 6:30 PM in the Roger E. Hedgepeth Chambers. The meeting included citizen recognition, a consent agenda, and public comments. The council also made announcements regarding community engagement. The meeting was adjourned at 6:58 PM.
Recognition
- Mayor Leslie Hager-Smith proclaimed March 2024 as Multiple Sclerosis Education and Awareness Month, highlighting that MS affects nearly one million people in the United States.
- Blacksburg Fire Chief Drew Smith presented certificates to five members of the Blacksburg Fire Department for heroically rescuing an elderly woman from a structure fire on December 24, 2023. Chief Smith noted that nationally there were over 1.4 million fires in the prior year and that the swift actions of these individuals saved the woman’s life.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the town council minutes from January 30, February 6, and February 13, 2024.
- Approved the donation of a surplus vehicle (2004 Dodge Ram 2500) to the Newport Fire Department.
- Approved the Town Council Strategic Goals for 2024.
- Vice Mayor Michael Sutphin moved, Councilmember Susan Anderson seconded; the motion passed unanimously on a roll call vote (Anderson, Colliver, Ford, Hager-Smith, Mattingly, Sutphin, Watson all voting yes).
Public Comments & Testimony
Five citizens addressed the council:
- Zachary Weis (1003 South Main Street) proposed planting fruit and nut trees in residential yards by incentivizing homeowners associations, noting that trees like American plum, black walnut, and pawpaw can become productive within three years. He suggested the town could create a holiday to give away free trees.
- Heather Nicholson (3450 Evergreen Trail), as a founding member of the Montgomery County Community Review Council (MCCRC), urged the council to recognize that belonging begins with inclusion. She raised concerns about the funding and management of the St. Luke and Odd Fellows Hall by the Blacksburg Museum and Cultural Foundation, asking how equity, transparency, and accountability will be addressed and whether the deed’s conditions will be honored.
- Christine King (Montgomery County), a member of a committee related to the St. Luke and Odd Fellows Hall, requested a written report clarifying the roles of the two committees (one with the town manager and one with the museum) and asked for a copy of the bylaws. She noted that the deed of gift requires a subcommittee of the museum to include descendants of the organizations that built the hall, and expressed confusion about recent events (e.g., a Soul Food Sampling) not being intended to raise funds for the hall. She asked the council to review the one-year operating agreement with the museum.
- Jody Booze-Daniels (909 Allendale Road) spoke about artifacts from the 1906 building. She noted that a Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS) was completed in 2023 and urged that a follow-up report be sent to IMLS as best practice. She pointed out that the Blacksburg Museum receives over $100,000 annually in public funds and called for transparency and accountability in the operating agreement.
- Jocelyn Hildebrand (1725 Sage Lane), as a volunteer with MCCRC and Christiansburg Institute, asked that the benchmarks for evaluating the Blacksburg Museum’s management of St. Luke and Odd Fellows Hall be made public. She expressed concern that the museum is not showing improvement, is not centering directly affected voices, is not restoring the building further, and is not bringing in Black vendors for events.
Council Announcements
- Councilmember Susan Anderson announced that the League of Women Voters voter guide is available in the lobby. She also reminded residents about the public comment period for the 2024 Annual Action Plan for HOME and CDBG programs, including an in-person meeting on March 6 from 4–5 PM and a Zoom call from 6–7 PM (link available by calling 540-443-1615).
- Vice Mayor Michael Sutphin noted that this was the first council meeting streamed live on YouTube (YouTube.com/BlacksburgGov) and encouraged citizens to subscribe. He also reminded about early voting for Super Tuesday.
- Councilmember Liam Watson reported attending the YMCA’s 150th anniversary celebration and praised the organization’s community work.
Key Outcomes
- The consent agenda was approved unanimously.
- The council heard extensive public testimony regarding the management and preservation of the St. Luke and Odd Fellows Hall; no immediate action was taken, but citizens’ concerns were noted.
- Council announced a public engagement opportunity for affordable housing input on March 6, 2024.
Meeting Transcript
Please come to order and will the clerk please call the roll. Oliver? Here. Here. Hager Smith. Here. Addingly? Here. Set Finn? Here. Watson? Present. We have two kinds of recognition to take care of today. And I want to soon call up our Blacksburg fire chief. But first, uh, we're going to do a proclamation for multiple sclerosis education and awareness month. Uh so I will read this out. Uh, and then afterwards I'd like to invite the chief up. Uh whereas multiple sclerosis is a chronic, often debilitating disease of the central nervous system that afflicts nearly one million people in the United States. And whereas it typically strikes young people between the ages of 20 and 40, affecting twice as many women as men. And whereas symptoms of MS can start as tingling, numbness in the limbs or nerves, loss of mobility, coordination, and vision, and progress to paralysis. And whereas the exact cause of multiple sclerosis is unknown, and there is no known cure. And whereas multiple sclerosis education and awareness month provides an opportunity to increase education and awareness of this disease to assist individuals to lead more productive and satisfying lives for the benefit of themselves, their caregivers, their families, and the entire community. Now, therefore, I, Leslie Hager Smith, mayor of the town of Blacksburg, Virginia, do hereby recognize the month of March 2024 as multiple sclerosis education and awareness month. And I call this observance to the attention of all of our citizens. So that is our proclamation for this evening. And now I would very much like to invite um Chief Smith up for special recognition of recent events. Oh, yes, however, you would like to. Okay. Um Andy Harper. CJ Linairs. Fred Lincoln. That's our president J.D. Robinson. Hi. Thank you for letting us be part of your meeting tonight to recognize these five individuals for their heroic actions last December. And so what makes these individuals stand out? Um last year the National Fire Administration says that there were over 1.4 million fires in the United States. It's a fact. And just for a reference in that same time, and there's 29 years here in our coverage area of Montgomery County. Andy and Fred and Greg and Pam are enjoying Christmas dinner. Pam and Greg's house. They realize that they're sending them to a structure fire across the street from their house. They look out there's fire coming out of the roof and they realize that an elderly woman that lives there by herself. And when everybody gets there, there's CJ was up the road visiting family. He comes down. They all gather there and realize that they know there should be somebody there, and there's nobody out. There's nobody in the front yard. And if you started marking her out, I'm just about to that they're talking to an elderly female in Fed that's unable to leave the individuals one in Fed and smoke conditioned were beginning to get very bad in there. And I was the first one to get there with the with the fire department over and Fred and Greg. When I got there, they had her on the front porch and got her to a safe place.
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