Mayor James Gatz, left, swears in new Town Recorder Marty Amerikaner, in Shepherdstown’s Town Hall on May 14. Photo by Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — The Shepherdstown Town Council underwent a number of changes, during its monthly meeting in Town Hall on May 14.

Among those changes was the swearing in of new town council member Carrie Blessing and the swearing in of new Town Recorder Marty Amerikaner.

“Now we feel whole again,” said Mayor James Gatz with a smile, after he finished swearing them in.

The meeting then began in earnest, starting with the first reading of an amendment to the Special Events Ordinance. The amendment will reduce the required time for submitting an application to the Corporation of Shepherdstown for an event permit, from 30 days to 14 days in advance of the event.

Gatz also gave an update on the status of the Hometown Heroes Banners, which will display the pictures of veterans around the main streets of Shepherdstown.

“Twenty-two banners have been purchased by local residents, which will be displayed every year for the two weeks around Memorial Day,” Gatz said.

The Shepherdstown Public Works Department was set to begin installing the brackets that would hold the banners, the very next day, according to Director of Public Works & Chief Operator Charles “Woody” Coe.

Progress on the town’s Comprehensive Plan is nearly complete. A public hearing for the Comprehensive Plan will be held in the War Memorial Building on the evening of June 9. Comments on the Comprehensive Plan will need to be submitted to the Corporation of Shepherdstown, prior to the hearing.

The town council unanimously approved the funding of three requests. The Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF), which asked the town for $50,000 in November, was given $25,000, with the caveat that it must be used for advertising that would draw tourism to the town and for setting up a box office for CATF tickets to be sold in downtown Shepherdstown. The Beeline March 250th Anniversary Celebration was granted $2,500, to help fund the numerous events being held in town in the historical event’s honor. Funds were also approved to support the maintenance of Rose Hill Cemetery, as the 501©(3) organization that owns it has become incapable of managing it on its own.

“All of this has been talked about a lot, in Finance Committee meetings, which involve the public. This discussion has been out there for a while,” said town council member Shannon Thomas.

Plans for a Beeline March Parade on July 19 were unanimously approved.

“This won’t be big enough to shut down German Street for, but will be more in line with what the Shepherdstown Elementary School does every year, with its Storybook Parade,” said parade organizer Peter Smith. “It will consist of reenactors, who will be coming for a day-long encampment at Morgan’s Grove Park. We’re probably talking 40-50 reenactors. This is something they have asked to do.”

The parade will start at Kearneysville Pike, continue onto Fairmont Avenue and King Street, and then pass down German Street, according to Smith.

Also unanimously approved was Experience Shepherdstown’s plans to hold First Friday events in Shepherdstown. The town-sponsored events will feature live entertainment and late-night shopping on the first Friday of every month, except for January and, only this year, July.

“We decided not to hold a First Friday in July, because that would be July 4,” Thomas, who is a member of Experience Shepherdstown, said. “There’s enough going on in town that day, already. We don’t need to add another event into the mix.”

The town council also unanimously agreed to proclaim May 15 as Asam Day, in conjunction with a special event being held in Erwin and Carol Asam’s honor at Alma Bea that day.

A request to proclaim June 21 as Asking Saves Kids (ASK) Day, to raise awareness about the need for all children to know about gun safety, was unanimously approved by the town council. In conjunction with the proclamation, an ASK Day poster will be displayed at Town Hall, ASK Day pamphlets will be handed out in town and the Shepherdstown Police Department will donate gun locks, to be handed out at Shepherdstown Street Fest on June 28.

Also announced was the selection of Shepherdstown resident Michael Chalmers, for the Corporation of Shepherdstown’s newly-created, part-time marketing and website management position.