Farmville Town Council Moves Forward on Key Issues

Farmville Town Council members endured a few technical lessons during the course of the April meeting held last Wednesday. Andrea Erard, the new town attorney taking the place of Donald Blessing, advised the council on some of the finer, albeit obscure, points of Robert’s Rules of Order regarding making motions. Robert’s Rules are the universally recognized guidelines and procedures by which most groups, councils and even debates conduct business fairly and peaceably. However technical the advisements of the evening were, the whole of the lesson was met with good humor by the council and provided more than one humorous interlude during the course of the meeting for all in attendance.

    Jen Cox, the Director of Commuter Life at Longwood University, led the business of the evening with an update to last month’s estimate of the number of students anticipated to live off campus after graduation. She also gave an update of the impressive numbers that Longwood students continue to rack up in their Relay for Life participation. Cumulatively, the University teams have surpassed the $500,000 mark since the first Relay in 2003 with the past March’s total of $64,000. This year Longwood students had a total of 57 teams and individuals circled the 200 meter second story indoor track of the Health and Wellness Center to raise funds for The American Cancer Society. Also, three student representatives of the International Fraternity Council and the PanHellenic Council attended the meeting this month.

Helen Person and Chuck Ross from the Farmville Downtown Partnership took the opportunity to announce to the council that the organization has been recognized by the Virginia Mainstreet Program and received an award for accumulating a total of 10,000 volunteer hours of work on various projects in the downtown area.

     There were four joint public hearings during the Town Council meeting for April. The first was to seek changes to Ordinance 4-2015 to add gas stations as a permitted use with a conditional use permit in a B-4 zone. The next hearing addressed amendments to code 29-387, “Dilapidated Structures.” The amendment will allow owners of homes that are run down or otherwise uninhabitable to tear the home down and rebuild, as long as the new structure is rebuilt on the same footprint as the old home. The third hearing sought to allow bonuses for town employees, providing that funds were available. The final hearing was for the establishment of a rebate for water and sewer taps for commercial and residential customers. No one spoke in opposition to any of the proposed changes.

     Other business included the generation of a longer lease agreement for F.A.C.E.S. food pantry of Farmville. They are currently using the old Wilson Oil Company building, but need to make changes to the building to make it more suitable for use. The request for a longer rental agreement that would allow for the changes to be made was met with no apprehension from council. They recommended a 10-year lease, with option for a longer lease, if deemed necessary.

Finally, Dr. Heather Lettner-Rust, English Professor at Longwood University, brought some of her students to the meeting to allow them, as part of a project in her class and with the full cooperation of the Town Council, to debate a topic as citizens of the town. A mock public hearing in which Walmart sought to move to a downtown location, was the scenario they were given to debate the pro and cons of as each saw fit. Students that spoke before Council had to create their identity, job and lifestyle and then base their response on the character they impersonated. The Council allowed them the same privileges as any citizen speaking in a public hearing. The project gave the students a taste of what a citizen’s rights and responsibilities are. It was also a classic example of the working relationship that the town of Farmville and Longwood University have and strive to maintain with each other.