By Sarah Richardson
The White Sulphur Springs City Council announced at their Oct. 13 meeting that Trick-or-Treating is still scheduled for Halloween night in Spa City. Mayor Bruce Bowling emphasized that homes not wishing to pass out candy leave their porch lights off. Trick-or-treating will run from 6 to 8 p.m. on Oct. 31.
Maintenance Supervisor David Lovelace wants to ensure that the citizens of White Sulphur know the annual free leaf pickup is underway. “We want to make sure the public knows that we are picking up leaves now, we are trying to get them on trash days,” he said. “Some weeks you will see us on more than just trash day, but there are times that we get busy and we can only come by on that day. We have been making rounds through the neighborhoods about every day.”
Bowling also emphasized the program was free and asked residents not to burn leaves. “There’s no reason for anybody in the city of White Sulphur to burn their leaves,” Bowling said. “No reason whatsoever, we pick them up, and it’s one of the best services this town offers. It’s free.”
A request from Charlie Hammerman to change the name of Tressel Street to Schoolhouse Way was approved after a brief discussion. Tressel Street runs beside the old high school in town, which is currently undergoing renovations to become a small, boutique hotel. The name change will help keep the history of the building alive. Councilmember Mark Gillespie said he had spoken with the 911 Center about the change, and emphasized that they are supportive of the update.
The council also approved to change Caldwell Drive from a one-way to a two-way street, and reverse the one-way route of traffic on Schoolhouse Way. Caldwell Drive runs up behind the old high school and connects to Schoolhouse Way, and by removing parking on the roadside, Mayor Bowling said it will be easy to change the flow of traffic to two-way. By changing the one-way route on Schoolhouse Way, traffic can now drive in front of the old high school and turn right, instead of having to turn up Caldwell Street and turn left.
In other news:
~Concerned citizen Sheila Leslie asked the council to consider adding a new fire hydrant closer to Hope Village after a home fire damaged one of the houses last week, and it took some time to access and hook up hoses to the nearby hydrant. Bowling said that an upcoming upgrade to the neighboring water plant should be easy to modify to add another fire hydrant within a good proximity of Hope Village to solve the problem.
~Susan Stentz was unanimously voted to join the Library Board as a new member.
~City Hall will be closed on Election Day, Nov. 3, and trash pickup for Nov. 3 will be collected on Nov. 4.
