SHEPHERDSTOWN — On Tuesday morning, the Corporation of Shepherdstown’s Town Council unanimously approved the adoption of levy rates for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. The levy of property taxes, which was approved on March 24 by West Virginia State Auditor John McCluskey, went uncontested by attendees of the special Town Council meeting.

The previous Tuesday evening featured the regular Town Council meeting in Town Hall, covering a variety of topics, including the Shepherdstown Fourth of July Parade and geocaching at James Rumsey Monument Park.

“Geocaching is a modern-day scavenger hunt — it’s probably the original geo-location game. Nowadays there are many of them that people do for fun. There are geocaches all over Shepherdstown — around town, at the Bavarian Inn and at the visitor’s center,” said Brad Clare, noting geocaches may be either physical or virtual. “Not every geocache is a physical object that you have to find. There are also virtual ones, that bring you to locations where you have opportunities to learn about each location. One of the reasons I wanted to publish one about James Rumsey Park, is because in my professional life, I’m in the Coast Guard. The fact that there is a historical piece to steam engines was something that attracted me here.

“I can’t do anything without written permission, so I’ve been contacting the clerk and talked with the mayor about it,” Clare said, mentioning he was invited by the mayor to come speak at the meeting about his plans to make an earth cache at the park. “An earth cache is a geology lesson, basically, where you would learn about the granite that was used to create the monument. There’s no real variety in Jefferson County for earth caches. All it would do, would be highlighting some information about our town and bringing geocachers to the park, to learn about the memorial.”

A motion unanimously passed for a document approving the geocache to be developed by the town’s lawyer, Chad Prince, which would be signed by Clare and Mayor Jim Auxer.

Rotary Club of Shepherdstown representative Peter Smith then was welcomed to discuss his Fourth of July commemoration plans.

“I’m seeking a permit a permit for July 4. This is the 15th time we’ve done this — it should be 17 years, but we took a few years off, as I’m sure you know,” said Rotary Club of Shepherdstown representative Peter Smith, referring to two years of Fourth of July celebration cancellations due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

As the Fourth of July events — a parade followed by a community picnic at Morgan’s Grove Park — were not being changed from previous years’ commemorations, the permit was quickly and unanimously approved by the Town Council.

The Town Council unanimously approved the three-year reappointment of Jim Gatz as Shepherdstown’s representative to the Jefferson County Development Authority.

The second reading was conducted of an ordinance re-enacting and further clarifying Section 9-207 of Chapter 2 of Title 9 of The Code of Shepherdstown, prohibiting driveways being made that would cross public sidewalks.