By Carol Vaughn —
Parksley Mayor Frank Russell said he will contact ANEC about repairing non-functioning streetlights in town, after a resident during the public comment period at the Dec. 6 meeting said a light at the corner of Staunton Avenue and Mary Street has been out since before he purchased his house two years ago.
Russell said Parksley police report streetlight outages to ANEC on a regular basis and Town Clerk Lauren Lewis asked residents to contact the town office with the location of any streetlights they observe needing attention.
Ellen Johnson of the Eastern Shore Railway Museum thanked everyone who volunteered for the Thanksgiving dinner offered free and also those who helped with the town’s Christmas event.
“Our town has had three very successful events recently. We had the Thanksgiving dinner, where we served 260 people; and we had our Halloween event, where the downtown was full; and we just had our Christmas event, where it was very successful,” Russell said, thanking the volunteers, including a number of current and former council members.
Russell welcomed incoming council members Carol Matthews and Janice Welch.
Russell presented former council member Mark Layne with a plaque honoring Layne as a community builder.
Russell said residents will be receiving two letters in the mail: one about new scheduling and acceptable items for limb removal. The town recently purchased a chipper, which “does not pick up small items,” he said.
Smaller yard debris can be put in plastic trash bags to be picked up or may be burned in accordance with burn regulations.
A second letter will notify residents that certain required paperwork was not filed a year ago by the previous administration, according to Russell.
“It’s about your water. There is nothing you need to do. The water is fine — it says that right in the letter — but they just didn’t file the paperwork,” he said.
The letter was written by the Virginia Department of Health, according to Lewis.
The council voted to add inoperable maritime vehicles to the town’s inoperable motor vehicle ordinance, which was discussed at a recent work session.
The council also voted to repeal the existing trash ordinance.
“The existing trash ordinance was written when we were picking up trash ourselves and the old way of picking up brush,” said Councilman Dan Matthews, adding, “All of that has changed.”
A new ordinance will be written to replace the outdated one, he said. Matthews made the motion to repeal the ordinance, which Councilman Henry Nicholson seconded.
Councilman Ricky Taylor made a motion to relinquish the county aid-to-locality money, $15,000, to the Parksley Volunteer Fire Company this year, as was done in the past.
More recently, the town used that aid, with the fire company’s agreement, to repair fire hydrants.
The council voted unanimously to approve the motion.
Councilwoman Carol Matthews said an online survey has gotten good response from residents and will remain open until the end of December for additional comments.
Matthews said she will have feedback from the Parksley Downtown Community Survey at the next council meeting.
The survey is available on the Town of Parksley Facebook page or at Survey Monkey.
