At the September 11 regular meeting of the Middleburg Town Council, Susan Koch, the Emmy and Peabody award-winning Executive Director of the Middleburg Film Festival updated Council on plans for this year's festival, scheduled for the weekend of Halloween, Thursday, October 30, through Sunday, November 2.

This year's festival, she noted, would provide the perfect complement to the Town's Halloween festivities.

Three-time Academy Award winner Colleen Atwood will be honored as this year's Distinguished Costume Designer.

During Atwood's 30+ years in Hollywood she has worked on more than 50 films, including "Sleepy Hollow" and "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." She designed Johnny Depp's body suit for "Edward Scissorhands," the sequined flapper dresses worn by the stars of "Chicago," and the costumes for "Alice in Wonderland," "Memoirs of a Geisha," and "Big Eyes," and "Into the Woods."

The festival will feature indepth conversations with Atwood, a retrospective of some of her most memorable costumes, and a Halloween-perfect Masquerade Ball to be held in her honor.

The Festival will honor Academy Award nominee Marco Beltrani as its Distinguished Film Composer. Some of Beltrani's earliest work was done for Wes Craven's iconic Halloween classic, "Scream." Other scores include "Hellboy," "Mimic," "Carrie," "3:10 to Yuma," "Wolverine" and "The Hurt Locker." In 2014 alone he has composed scores for at least five films, including "Snowpiercer," "The Giver," "The Homesman," "The Drop," and "November Man."

At this year's festival, Koch reported, the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra will perform "world premieres of concert suites" from Beltrami's scores including "The Giver," "The Horseman," and "World War Z."

Coca-Cola will be the "Presenting Sponsor" for this year's festival.

Former U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, elected in the spring of 2011 as head the Motion Picture Association of America may also be attending.

Films will be shown at the Hill School, Salamander Resort, National Sporting Library and Buchanan Hall. Ticket packages can be purchased on line at http://www.middleburgfilm.org

The official brick and mortar box office will be located in the former Salamander Touch space at 100 West Washington Street, US route 50, Middleburg's main street.

According to Koch ticket prices "would continue to be $15/person and $10/student, excluding the opening night and Saturday night centerpiece films."

Public Funding for the Festival

Mayor Betsy Davis asked Council to "consider donating $10,000 to the Middleburg Film Festival from the line item for special events in the Town budget," noting that, at present, the line item totaled $25,000.

After discussion of its financial support of "Shakespeare in the Burg" and "Christmas in Middleburg," Councilmember Mark Snyder "advised Council that he would agree to the $10,000 donation if the Council would agree to make a $10,000 donation to Bluemont this fall."

"After continued discussion," Town Council agreed "to make a $10,000 donation to the Film Festival."

Town Bonds

On Thursday, Joe Mason, of Davenport and Associates, reviewed with Council the results of its latest direct bank loan Request For Proposals (RFP), noting that the Town's bond solicitation "was being done on a dual track with the Virginia Resource Authority" just in case the Town, for some unexpected reason, "could not obtain bank funding at rates that were attractive and for a fixed period."

Mason noted he Town received "two proposals that offered fixed rates for twenty to thirty years, which was extraordinary." Middleburg's balance sheets "were being viewed favorably," he noted, "which had not always been the case."

According to Mason, the Town received five offers, of which two, one from Cardinal Bank and one from Middleburg Bank, were most noteworthy.

For a twenty-year term loan, Mason reported, Middleburg Bank's offer "was two basis points lower" than Cardinal Bank. For a twenty-five year loan the rates were the same. For a thirty year option, Cardinal Bank's rates were lower than Middleburg's.

Town Administrator Martha Semmes and Councilmember Mark Snyder noted that, from their perspectives, "a twenty-five year loan made the most sense."

Councilmember Kevin Hazard suggested "the Council look at a twenty-year loan instead, noting that "the cost was $7,000-8,000 per year."

Town Administrator Semmes observed that neither of the two proposals included penalties for early payment, at which point Mason observed "the ability to repay the loan at any time with no penalty was an advantage of bank financing."

When Mayor Betsy Davis asked whether the Council needed to make a decision immediately, Semmes noted that Council would need to make and decision and adopt an ordinance governing the loan soon.

Mason confirmed the Town had to close by October 3rd on the $1million loan to avoid renegotiation. If Middleburg wished to consider borrowing more than $1 million, he said, he thought the bank would hold the rates until the end of October.

If Council decides to borrow only $1 million, Mason concluded, "they could make that decision during the September 25th meeting," but "if they wanted to borrow more, they would have to hold another public hearing during their second meeting in October."

Police News

Chief of Police A. J. Panebianco reported that his department had what he described as an "awesome National Night Out celebration" and noted that a aerial video of the proceedings taken from a drone camera flown by the Middleburg Eccentric's Jay Hubbard was available on the department's webpage.

Hubbard, he said, would also video tape this year's Christmas in Middleburg celebrations. Police department planning for Christmas in Middleburg was well underway, he said, and reported that the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office has already committed to provide support.

The police department is also deeply engaged in discussions with the professional security firm for the Middleburg Film Festival, noting the excellent cooperation between the Salamander organization and the Town.

Panebianco also noted that the department had received a gracious thank you from the Secret Service for its hard work and contribution to the First Lady Michelle Obama's visit to Middleburg.

Lieutenant Mike Prince and the Chief have been actively engaged with the Middleburg Charter School, jointly conducting a class on report writing.

Panebianco has been elected to the Virginia Police Chief Association's Board of Directors. Middleburg, he said, may well be the smallest community ever to have a chief serve on that board.

The Chief also thanked Town Council and all those in and around Middleburg for their extraordinary support and kind words during his recent and ongoing family emergency. "People could not have been kinder," he said.

Dogs, Leashes, and Animal Control

Councilmember Bundles Murdock reported that she had noticed two places in Middleburg where "dog owners had multiple dogs that were constantly getting out."

For those concerned about the situation, she noted that the appropriate action would be to call Loudoun County Animal Control Office. She said was concerned, however, "that this was not working."

Chief Panebianco noted that part of the problem may lie in his department's gentle response to complaints, escapes and recaptures, which he describes as variations on "here's your dog" and "don't let it happen again." Middleburg, he noted, is a very dog friendly community.

He advised council that, in the case of repeat offenders, his officers could attempt to catch escaped dogs and contact Animal Control to ask them to take the dog to the animal shelter. In such cases Loudoun County Animal Control would decide whether or not they wanted to issue a summons to the owner.

Noting that, during his three years in Middleburg he has only picked up two dogs, Chief Panebianco observed that a major problem "was that people did not call when the problem was happening and would tell the department about it days later."

In and effort to educate the town's dog owners, Panebianco said that his officers, henceforth, could talk to owners of errant animals, warn them, and let them know that "next time, Animal Control would be called."

Part-time and Temporary Police Officers

Town Administrator Martha Semmes reminded Council that the increasing size of the crowds at the Middleburg Film Festival, Christmas in Middleburg, and other special events had created a pressing need for extra police officers to control traffic and provide security.

"Any new hires," she noted, would have to be added to the Town's payroll, "which involved taxes and insurance costs" estimated at $455 in taxes and $3,600 in insurance for all of the officers.

On a motion by Councilmember Mark Snyder council approved "the addition of one or two part-time police officer employees to the employment rolls for fill in help to work up to a combined total of twelve hours per month during the current fiscal year" and "the hiring of up to thirteen temporary police officers for special events. . . ."