Blacksburg Town Council Meeting – April 14, 2026
Blacksburg Town Council Meeting – April 14, 2026
The Blacksburg Town Council held a regular meeting on April 14, 2026, at 6:31 p.m. in the Roger E. Hedgepeth Chambers. The meeting included approval of the consent agenda, a public hearing on the FY2027 recommended budget package, and a closed session for performance evaluations. No public comments were received. The meeting adjourned to closed session at 6:51 p.m. and reconvened at 8:20 p.m.
Consent Calendar
- Town Council Minutes: Approved unanimously for March 17, 2026, and March 24, 2026.
- Purchase of 305 Ardmore Street Property: Authorized the Town Manager to sign the Purchase Agreement.
- EXP-26-1 (Special Exception for Parking at 1315 Rugby Lane): Scheduled a public hearing for May 12, 2026.
- Ordinance 2085 (Special Flood Hazard Area Overlay District Regulations): Introduced the ordinance and scheduled a public hearing for May 12, 2026.
Public Hearings
- FY2027 Recommended Budget Package (Ordinances 2113 and 2114):
- Town Manager Marc Verniel presented the budget, totaling $125.7 million (16% overall increase; 5.8% operating increase).
- Utility rate changes: water and sewer +6%, solid waste +7%, stormwater unchanged; average monthly utility bill increase of $8.40 (5.98%). Property tax rate unchanged.
- No public comments were offered.
- Mayor Sutphin read a Statement of Complete Disqualification regarding Ordinance 2113, citing his employment with Community Housing Partners, which receives appropriations in certain sections. He stated he will abstain from voting on those portions at the April 28, 2026 meeting.
- Action on both ordinances is scheduled for April 28, 2026.
Council Announcements
- No announcements were made.
Closed Meeting & Resolution
- The Council voted unanimously to adjourn to a closed meeting under Virginia Code § 2.2-3711(A)(1) for performance evaluations of the Town Manager, Town Clerk, and Town Attorney.
- After reconvening, Resolution 4-A-26 certifying the propriety of the closed meeting was adopted unanimously.
Meeting Transcript
Will the council come to order and will the clerk please call the roll? Anderson, present. Campbell, present. Oliver? Here. Four? Here. Goodhart? Here. Castle. Present. Sutfin? Here. Will the Vice Mayor please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation. Under God. Indivisible. Before we move on to tonight's consent agenda, I have a couple of proclamations that I've done recently, so I'll go ahead and read the first one. And this is a proclamation for National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, which I believe is this week. So whereas emergencies can occur at any time that require police, fire, or emergency medical services, whereas an emergency, when an emergency occurs, the prompt response of police officers, firefighters, and paramedics is critical to the protection of life and preservation of property. Whereas the safety of our police officers, firefighters, and paramedics is dependent upon the quality and accuracy of information obtained from citizens who telephone the New River Valley Emergency Communications Regional Authority. Whereas public safety telecommunicators are the first and most critical contact our citizens have with emergency services. Whereas public safety telecommunicators are the single vital link for our police officers, firefighters, and paramedics by monitoring their activities by radio, providing them information and ensuring their safety. Whereas public safety telecommunicators of the New Vervalley Emergency Communications Regional Authority have contributed substantially to the apprehension of criminals, suppression of fires, and treatment of patients. Whereas each dispatcher has exhibited compassion, understanding, and professionalism during the performance of their job in the past year. Now, therefore, I, Michael Sutfin, mayor of the town of Blacksburg, do hereby proclaim the week of April 12th through April 18th, 2026 as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week in our community and encourage our citizens to honor the men and women whose diligence and professionalism keep our town and our citizens safe. Um so the second one I won't read uh in its entirety because it's uh for an event that happened uh this past weekend. Um, but we did do a proclamation that was declaring um Saturday, April 11th, as Arbor Day in the town of Blacksburg, and I had the privilege of sharing that with um some volunteers who were planting trees um this past Saturday at the town's tree nursery. Um so with that we can go ahead and move on to the rest of the agenda. So we'll start tonight with the consent agenda, and we have four items on the consent agenda. The first is the town council minutes for March 17th and March 24th. We'll be approving those. Um item B is the purchase of 305 Ardmore Street property, and we'll be authorizing the town manager to sign the purchase agreement. Item C is a special exception request for parking at 1315 rugby lane. We'll be scheduling the public hearing for that for May twelfth, twenty twenty-six. And item D is ordinance twenty eighty-five, an ordinance to amend the zoning ordinance by amending sections two one hundred three and five one oh two, repealing the existing text of Article Three, Division 24, and adopting new sections three two four oh, three two four one, three two four two. Oh boy, three, two, four, three, um, and so on until we get to section um three two five eight. Um regarding the special flood hazard area overlay district regulations. We'll be introducing that ordinance and scheduling the public hearing for May twelfth. Um do we have a motion on the consent agenda? I move approval of the consent agenda. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Uh seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll? Campbell. Aye. Oliver. Ford.
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