For Middleburg's Town Government the New Year often begins in July. The Town's Budget for 2014-2015 fiscal year has been drafted, debated, revised and approved. New Town Council members take office. The Mayor and Vice Mayor are elected or re-elected. This year a new Town Planner and Zoning Administrator joins the professional staff at Town Hall.

The New Council
At a Council work session on June 26 Gary Clemens, Clerk of Loudoun County Circuit Court, officially administered the Oath of Office to Mayor Betsy Davis and Councilmembers Darlene Kirk, Mark Snyder, Kevin Hazard and Erik Scheps, for new terms of office beginning July 1. At the Council's first regular meeting in July Darlene Kirk was unanimously re-elected Vice Mayor for a two-year term.

New Committee Assignments
In an effort to improve communications and reduce the number of committee meetings, reports, and legally required advertising related to scheduling changes for even small groups of elected officials, Town Council has for the past three years generally done business formally relegated to separate committees by acting as a "Committee of the Whole" at regularly scheduled Council work sessions. Council members now often serve as "specialists" or Council "liaison" for the areas that formerly required committees and committee Chairs.

Recently, the traditional committee structures have been re-emerging, especially in relation to some of the more technical work required of council, such as oversight of the town's water and sewer systems.

Currently responsible for special "Committee" and "Liaison" assignments are:

Mayor Betsy Davis: Economic Development, Main Street Middleburg, Traffic Calming,

Vice Mayor Darlene Kirk: Finance and Personnel and the Health Center Advisory Board

Kevin Hazard: Planning Commission and "Christmas in Middleburg"

Trowbridge Littleton: Land Use and the Historic District Review Committee

Bundles Murdock: Public Safety, the Middleburg Meandering Trail, and "Christmas in Middleburg"

Erik Scheps: Pink Box Visitor Center and the Health Center Advisory Boards

Kathy Jo Shea: Go Green

Mark Snyder: Public Works and the Wellhead Protection

New Town Planner and Zoning Administrator
Town Administrator Martha Semmes announced with pleasure that William Michael ("Will") Moore would be joining the town's professional staff as Town Planner and Zoning Administrator effective July 21.

Moore had served as City Planner in Winchester since January 2006. A native of Winchester, Moore earned his BA in Music from James Madison University in Harrisonburg and his MS in Management from Liberty University in Lynchburg. A skilled musician, he served in both musical and administrative capacities with the U.S. Army's First Division Band in Bamberg Germany, before joining the professional staff of the City of Winchester.

Town Administrator Semmes, who had been acting as Planner and Zoning Administrator since the departure of David Beniamino, told the Eccentric that Moore promises to be an "extraordinary addition" to the town staff.

"He brings both "city" planning perspective and the special "small town" sensitivity required to preserve and protect a town that's not only a great place to live and work and shop, but a cultural and historic treasure.

Moore said he was "both pleased and honored" to be entrusted by the Town and its staff with his new responsibilities. "One could not ask for a more respected mentor or role model than Town Administrator Semmes," he said, "nor a more delightful place to work than Middleburg."

Water
Terry Imboden, President of Imboden Environmental Services contracted by the Town to manage and run its water and sewer systems, reported that the town's waste water system is now "operating great . . . running at peak performance." After fixing a software problem and increasing "maintenance cleans" from two to three times per week, Imboden reported a "noticeable" improvement in the effectiveness of two critical and expensive Zenon membranes, one of which had been underperforming.

The beginning of summer has also kept Imboden's staff busy with requests to locate buried water and sewer lines. "Sometimes we will have four locates a day," he reported, "and some for landscaping work. There's a lot going on in Middleburg, not just a sleepy little town, a lot of commerce packed in this town, and busy people updating and maintaining their beautiful properties. What a town."

Police
Police Chief A. J. Panebianco reported that the forces Chief Investigator, Lt. Mike Prince had been kept busy during the past month. Follow investigations for June, for example, increased from 3 in 2013 to 12 in June 2014.

Middleburg's annual celebration of National Night Out is set for August 5. At 6:00 PM that day the Middleburg force will present a plaque to surviving members of the family of Town Sergeant Henry Milton Seaton, the only Middleburg Police Officer known to have been killed in the line of duty. Seaton was fatally wounded by a man he had arrested for public drunkenness and then released. According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial organization, "The suspect was released but he returned with his brother and assaulted then stabbed Sergeant Seaton in the stomach. Seaton succumbed to his wounds a week later." Sergeant Seaton (at the time the rank was equivalent to Chief of Police in Middleburg) died of his wounds on December 2, 1899.