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Reinventing the Holidays
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Middleburg’s Only Locally Owned and Operated Newspaper
Foxcroft Hunt Breakfast
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November 22, 2012 ~ December 13, 2012
Ho! Ho! Ho!
E
Daniel Morrow
conomic Development Coordinator Cindy Pearson issued the moral equivalent of the two-minute Christmas warning at Town Council’s November session: Mayor Betsy Davis and the entire council were to muster for duty on the Town’s wagon float at least a quarter hour before the main parade begins at 2:00 PM on Saturday, December 1. The Hunt Parade begins three hours earlier, at 11:00 AM. If the weather holds Middleburg expects one of the best celebrations in recent memory. Hurricane Sandy Mayor Davis personally thanked Middleburg’s Town Staff and its Police Department for “the amazing job they did during Hurricane Sandy” noting that, happily, “Middleburg experienced no major problems.” Town Administrator Martha Semmes, she noted, “kept everyone current through emails,” our Maintenance Superintendent worked the streets “both before and after the storm,” and, Chief Panebianco, Senior Officer Mike Prince and Officer Heather Fadely were on duty, present and accounted for the entire night.” Councilmember Mark Snyder thanked Charlie Triplett, of Loudoun Water, who was also in Middleburg that night Councilmember Trowbridge Littleton thanked Chief Panebianco for his hard work and asked him how many hours he had been on duty during the storm. Panebianco admitted he was up for twenty-three hours straight noting “that he was not as young as he used to be.” Councilmember Murdock thanked VDOT and Dominion Power for responding quickly to Hurricane Sandy, and suggested the Town express its appreciation in writing. After the event, Town Administrator Semmes reported, she met with representatives from FEMA, the County Emergency Operations Department and the Virginia Department of Environmental Management to discuss the costs incurred by the Town because of Sandy. Expense data from the entire County, she told council, would soon be compiled and sent to the Governor, who would then decide if the County was eligible for financial relief. Most, if not all the Town’s costs, she said, “were related to overtime and generator fuel needed to run the treatment plants.” Halloween
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B u s i n e s s Di r e c t o r y : Pa g e 1 6 • F r i e n d s f o r L i f e : Pa g e 2 6
Election Violence Councilmember Catherine “Bundles” Murdock speaking, she said, as a private citizen, expressed “outrage” at what she described as “acts of violence” that occurred on Election Day in Middleburg and the days prior to it. The “violence” took the form of damage that she said at least four residents reported had been done to their Romney-for-President signs. Murdock, a Republican, told Council “she would be raising this issue no matter which candidate’s signs were damaged” noting that “she had never witnessed such bad intentions during a presidential campaign.” Noting that, generally speaking, “the campaign workers for the two parties were very friendly” and had “shared food and drinks throughout Election Day,” she expressed her hopes that, in the future, whoever had vandalized the signs would “take a cue from them.” Councilmember Mark Snyder observed that Middleburg residents “have always showed respect for political discourse” and that he “encouraged them to share their opinions, regardless of whether they agreed with him or not.” Councilmember Littleton noted that the same thing happened some twenty years ago during a local election, noting that it was done by someone from outside of the town Murdock expressed her hope that the vandalism in this case was, indeed, the work of one individual.” Audit Jeff Mitchell, of Mitchell & Company appeared before Council at its regular monthly work session in late October to present the results of his firm’s audit of the Town’ books for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012. The Town’s money, he noted, is held in three main funds or accounts: a General Fund; a Health Center Fund; and the Water/Sewer Fund. The General Fund, as of June 30, contained $1.2 million in cash and $32,000 in readily collectable receivables (uncollected property taxes, utility taxes, and State sales tax.) The town’s fixed assets, such as buildings owned by the Town and its parking lots, were valued, very conservatively, at $1.2 million, based as they are on original cost, less depreciation rather than their true market value. The Health Center Fund showed fixed Assets of $153,429, which was, again, based on the original cost of the town-owned Health Center building, Continued Page 15
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Page 4 Conservation Easement to Protect the Land You Love
Police Chief Panebianco told Council that his first Halloween in Middleburg seems to have gone well despite Hurricane Sandy. Senior Officer Mike Prince estimated that the number of trick-or-treaters may have been off by as much as 30-40 %.
Trowbridgle Littleton estimated that the Community Center’s numbers were also down by about one-third.
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Volume 9 Issue 8