By Sarah Richardson
The August meeting of Lewisburg City Council was held on Tuesday, Aug. 20, to discuss wayfinding signage, updates on the new water plant progress, an overview of the Lewisburg Literary Festival, and more.
To start the meeting, Greg Johnson and Josh Baldwin approached the council to thank them for their support of the Lewisburg Literary Festival, and stated that this last festival had the best numbers of attendees out of any of their previous events.
“First of all, one of the reasons that we seek support for the Literary Festival is that our events are always free and open to the public,” Baldwin said. “In as much, we do have to ticket them so we can understand how much the crowd size is going to be. This year we had over 500 requests for tickets for David Baldacci, and Carnegie seats about 380. That was a huge success, having him come to Lewisburg.”
Baldwin explained that all three events that they held at Carnegie Hall were at capacity, as well as a presentation at the Lewis Theatre and all three workshops, for the first time in the history of the festival. He says that in the over 10 years they have been doing the festival, visitors have come to Lewisburg from around the nation to attend.
In other news, Mayor Beverly White recognized two city employees. She announced that City Manager Misty Hill is now the President of the City Manager’s Association with the WV Municipal League, and City Treasurer Susan Honaker, who is a member of the WV Municipal Finance Office, was just named the President of the WV Municipal Finance Officer Association.
City Manager Misty Hill then reported that areas of the new water plant have been being tested and put online to “work out the kinks,” but the plant as a whole is still not online.
“The plant itself, I want to reiterate, doesn’t mean that we are up and going, just that sections of the upgrades are completed. It still will not be fully online until the intake is complete, so we are still several months out on the raw water intake being up and ready to initiate that,” she explained.
Hill also explained that a stormwater issue on the hillside of the municipal parking lot on Lafayette Street has necessitated a tiered wall to be installed at the bottom of the slope along the roadside. She said they are working on holding the bank back and doing landscaping on that area to prevent erosion and other issues.
She also reminds the public that City Council agendas are available on the MyLewisburg app for those wanting to view topics coming before the Council. Agendas are also posted to the front of City Hall, are posted to the City’s website, and are distributed through the news media.
Hill said that wayfinding signage is also making progress in town, and details are being nailed down for the wayfinding map before it comes before the Planning Commission, and then Council for a final vote. In the works is an informational kiosk that will be installed near the piano outside of City Hall, which will help visitors navigate downtown with ease.
The Finance Committee presented several items for Council to review, including $3,600 of Arts and Humanities funding to the Greenbrier Historical Society for a Living History event, a USDA Loan interest reimbursement for the water plant in the amount of $348,000, a water plant operator training contract, a Public Works Building change order for a decrease of $9,512.67 in charges, a police department promotion of an officer to Sergeant with a subsequent pay increase, and coverage of the Magic of Christmas carriage rides in the amount of $5,000. Council approved each of the items as presented. Two change orders were also approved for water treatment plant improvement project contractors: one change order in the amount of $69,180 to Pro Contracting, and another change order for $61,825.80 to Empire Salvage and Recycling.
The Public Safety Committee met earlier in the month, and brought a set of Standard Operating Guidelines to be applied to the Lewisburg Police Department following review. The guidelines were approved by Council. Chief Teubert noted that one of the biggest things was adding a Sergeant into the SOGs, and explained that they are make notes throughout the year of anything that needs reviewed, and that it had been two years since their last set of changes had been applied.
The next meeting of the Lewisburg City Council will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 7 p.m. at Lewisburg City Hall.
