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Town council talks BooFest, water tower broadband service

By Tabitha Johnston - Chronicle Staff | Sep 17, 2021

Dickens

SHEPHERDSTOWN — On Tuesday night, the Shepherdstown Town Council returned to holding its monthly meeting in a Zoom format. The online meeting covered a variety of lengthy discussion relating to the COVID-19 Pandemic and the town’s approval of grant funding.

To begin the meeting, the town council quickly approved the third and final reading of the town’s Bond Ordinance “authorizing the issuance of up to $1,250,000 in aggregate principal amount of Corporation of Shepherdstown Water Revenue Bonds.” The Bond Ordinance will help the town to cover its renovation and improvement project to its waterworks system.

The first reading of amendments and adoptions to 13 of the town’s other ordinances followed, and were similarly unanimously approved by the town council. The ordinance changes ranged from how to deal with underage people using false identification to parking meter theft.

“Most of them were penalty phase adjustments, either because they were too much or not enough. These were always on the books,” said Shepherdstown Police Department Chief Mike King, regarding the ordinances that are currently in place. “This was just to catch up. West Virginia state law has changed over the years, and we never caught up to it.”

King also took a moment to introduce the Shepherdstown Police Department’s newest member, Officer Bryce Dickens. Dickens, a Sharpsburg, Md. resident, is currently learning the department’s ropes, after filling the recently vacated position on Sept. 9.

Mayor Jim Auxer then brought to the table a plan, which has the potential to earn the town some money while helping the surrounding community. The plan, proposed by Martinsburg resident David Deamer, who is on the Jefferson County Broadband Committee, will not cost the town a dime.

“We discussed using the water tanks to get out the internet access to rural areas outside of Shepherdstown,” Deamer said. “What we discussed is just basically having the ability to manage the wireless assets on the tower, opening up the area for broadband providers to come and place their signal to get to areas where access is lacking. I would handle all potential inquiries for usage on the tower.

“Broadband equipment is fairly small, as far as equipment that would go on the tower — it’s about the size of a pie plate. It’s pretty small equipment, and that would be all handled by the wireless group, to make sure it’s safe and secure on the water tanks,” Deamer said. “The capabilities for speeds just aren’t there right now. There’s a five-mile radius outside of the tower that [this project] should give way better internet.”

According to Auxer, Charles Town currently rakes in up to $4,000 a month from the companies renting the water tower space.

“Just 150 yards out of town, internet service diminishes considerably. I was really surprised to learn that,” Auxer said. “By using the water towers for service, we’re able to assist our community considerably.”

The town council unanimously approved the project.

Although concerns over new strains of the coronavirus were voiced in the town council’s monthly meeting Tuesday night, the town council approved the return of socially distanced events for the upcoming holiday season.

While some of the events have not been thoroughly thought out, regarding how to deal with COVID-19 spreading concerns, councilwoman Jenny Haynes said she knew those involved would understand the need to cancel them, if safety required it.

“I think we need to hold these events, rather than cancel them, because I think people need them,” said councilman Chris Stroech. “We need to have a balanced approach to all of this and really adjust accordingly to that.”

With safety and celebration equally in mind, the town council and organizers Steve Pearson and Haynes agreed on the tentative decisions to allow trick-or-treating in town, but not to advertise it; to hold adult BooFest events like the Vampire Ball and annual “Thriller” dance, but not children’s events, due to the lack of a vaccine for those under age 12; to hold Haynes’ annual Haunted House in the War Memorial Building; to hold the Shepherdstown Rotary Club’s annual Christmas Parade; and to welcome back Christmas in Shepherdstown events, like a socially distanced in-person Christmas tree lighting ceremony and Kiwanis chili cookoff fundraiser.

The town council also unanimously approved resuming of the Cost Sharing Sidewalk Program, which the town will allocate $40,000 to funding. Public Works Director Frank Welch is heading up a survey of the sidewalks in town, to discern which ones most need repair. The residents owning the connecting properties will be contacted by the town with applications for them to return, regarding the funding they would need to either repair the sidewalks themselves or have a professional do so.

“I think the last time it was done was in 2017,” Welch said. “We’ve been going around, trying to hit every sidewalk with finding cracks and other issues. We’re going to do every sidewalk in town.”

The meeting came to a close, soon after a contentious vote in approval of the town accepting the American Rescue Plan matching grant. Money from the grant will be used to help the town cover the $1 million spike in cost of the Water Treatment Plant Upgrade Project. However, several town council members raised the concern that the town would be bearing the brunt of the project’s cost, while the project itself would largely impact those outside of the Corporation of Shepherdstown.

“Some of these things come all of a sudden. We didn’t know we were going to get this [grant], and then they asked us if we had the $560,000 to match it. Which we did,” Auxer said, mentioning the grant was recommended by the Finance Committee. “A lot of thought was put into this, a lot of ruminating.”