Tabitha Johnston/Chronicle Bavarian Inn President Christian Asam signs a Memorandum of Understanding with Mayor Jim Auxer at the Shepherdstown Town Council meeting Tuesday evening.

Town Council held its monthly meeting at Town Hall on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m.

The council discussed the appointment of Nick Tully to Shepherdstown’s Parks and Recreation Committee and the Bavarian Inn Annexation Memorandum of Understanding.

“We did really work hard on this,” said Bavarian Inn President Christian Asam, before he and Mayor Jim Auxer signed the written agreement. “We wanted to do something positive for the town, and we view it as a gift to Shepherdstown.

“I’ve been talking to the mayor about this for years, and he was talking to my parents about this before that. However, we wanted to come up with this understanding so that it wouldn’t financially strain the inn, and so the town will get that one percent sales tax revenue,” Asam said. “Then we will officially be part of Shepherdstown.”

According to Town Attorney Charles Printz, this annexation will satisfy a decades-long discussion between the town council and Bavarian Inn, which began in the 1980s.

The town council’s next step for annexation of the inn is setting up a planning commission meeting, which will need to be advertised at least 15 days in advance. The entire process of approving the annexation will take a couple months, according to Town Clerk Amy Boyd, who said the inn will likely be officially annexed sometime in July.

Upon its annexation into Shepherdstown, the inn will start paying real estate tax to the town, and it’s patrons will pay one percent sales tax on the resort’s amenities, which will include any sales at on-site festivals and at the restaurant and brewery. In exchange, the town will pay for the inn’s garbage and trash removal.

The council also unanimously approved the appointment of Nick Tully to the Parks and Recreation Committee.

“He’s going to be super; we vetted him weeks ago,” said Town Council member Cheryl Roberts. Tully will begin serving on the committee at its next meeting May 22.

Shepherdstown Visitors Center representatives, Director Marianne Davis and Board President Meredeth Wait gave a report on the success of recent SVC events. They said visitors were up by 25 percent and exhibitors at the event were up by 23 percent at DogFest 2018. The May Day Celebration also saw a better turnout this year, despite the rain, with an average of 2,800 visitors.

Mayor Auxer also announced the paving at the German Street and Duke Street four-way stop will begin sometime in June.

“When that happens, we’ll knock on doors and let our neighbors know about it. Pretty soon, they’ll be repaving all of High Street,” Auxer said.