The Middleburg Town Council meeting Thursday night was dominated by discussion concerning water and sewer tap use availability fees. The council voted 4-2 to establish a separate account for water tap use availability fees on Thursday night. This account will isolate Middleburg's income from water availability fees from the rest of the money associated with town water so that those funds can be used specifically for utility improvements.

"We charge availability fees because it costs to provide capacity; we should use them to pay for expansion. That money shouldn't go for operations and maintenance," explained council member Mark Snyder, the author of the motion. The issue of separate accounting for availability fees was not on the September meeting agenda, and there was some confusion among council members when Snyder proposed the motion during the action items phase of the meeting, immediately after the council approved a water and sewer tap request that was on the agenda.

"Usually there are packets, agendas, discussion items . . . the council was taken by surprise by this vote," commented Mayor Tim Dimos.

Despite the lack of usual process, and with two dissenting votes, Snyder's motion passed quickly, so quickly that some council members were left unsure of what they had enacted, and it is unclear how town administrator Mike Casey and treasurer Betty Wolford will put the new resolution into effect.

"I don't understand what the motion means, nor do I think those who voted on the motion understand what it means," said Dimos.

Council members Snyder, Helen Hyre, and Bundles Murdock, who together make up the public works sub-committee of the Middleburg town council, were unconcerned about the lack of discussion regarding the water availability money. Council members Snyder and Hyre explained that the issue had already been discussed in sessions of the public works committee, although no formal report on that subject has been presented to the Middleburg town council as a whole.

"I think this will be revisited, we'll clean up the mess a month from now . . . it was ill considered to spring this on the council without normal process," said Dimos.

Route 50 Task Force

Also under discussion by the council was council member Margaret New's report on the September 7 meeting of the county board's Route 50 Task Force Sub-Group, which she attended along with town administrator Mike Casey as representatives of Middleburg. New's report presented an overview of the sub-group's meeting, primarily concerned with the 20 requests for comprehensive plan amendments, or CPAMs, which have been filed in Loudoun County. The CPAMs consist of changes to the land use for various pieces of property, generally for the purposes of building new businesses or residential communities. According to New's report, 30,000 to 40,000 additional units could be built, with most developments feeding into Route 50. The task force, chaired by Merritt Jones, is attempting to get feedback from the community and local governments about this projected rise in development, and New's report included her request that the council send Casey to the task force's future meetings to represent the interests of Middleburg. New also asked the council to pass a resolution as a gesture of support for the task force's cause.

"We need to be at the table," said New.

The council postponed a formal statement to the task force but agreed to send Casey to further meetings in order to gather more information.

"We just need to know more . . . sometimes you jump from the frying pan to the fire with these things," explained council member Eura Lewis.

Aldie Mill

The council also considered issuing a public statement concerning the Aldie Mill. The historic mill was restored and is currently operated by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF), which has proposed giving the mill to the Loudoun County Government to manage as it does several other historic sites. Mayor Dimos presented the council with a draft of a letter of support for this proposal from the Middleburg Town Council to the board of supervisors, and the council resolved to gather more information before voting to send the letter.

"The Aldie Mill is a very significant tourist asset to our area and it's certainly in our interest to support measures to ensure its vitality," said Mayor Dimos.

Other Items

The Middleburg town council unveiled a new parliamentary process at their September meeting. The new procedure is called a consent agenda, and is designed to streamline the council meetings by presenting all of the agenda items that do not require discussion or deliberation for a vote in one block unit. Any council member may remove something from the consent agenda if they feel it requires discussion or further thought. The consent agenda items for the September meeting consisted of the minutes of the last meeting and the appointment of docents for the Pink Box.

At 8:00 pm September 10, the council paused during their meeting for a moment of silence to honor all of the US soldiers currently overseas fighting. The moment of silence was suggested by members of the public attending the meeting, and was applauded by town zoning administrator Marchant Snyder, who only recently returned from operations in Afghanistan.