Mayor Betsy Davis opened the regular May 11 meeting of the Middleburg Town Council with kudos for the individuals and outstanding businesses recognized at that day's Visit Loudoun Awards Luncheon.

German Lopez, the Grounds Technician for the Goodstone Inn, won Visit Loudoun's Back of the House Award.

The Mrs. George C. Everhart Memorial Invitational Side Saddle Race won the Annual Event of the Year Award, and Dr. Sheila Johnson won the Judy Patterson Tourism Award for the Middleburg Film Festival.

Nominated for awards were: Reggie Cooper of the Salamander Resort for Manager of the Year; Visit Middleburg and We Are Open for the Branding/Marketing/Promotional Campaign of the Year; Kari Bowman, Recreation Director for the Salamander Resort and Christen Garland, Dave Parker, Sr. and Audrey Siler, Sr. of 50 West Vineyard for the Love Loudoun Ambassador of the Year Award.

Financial Support for Visit Loudoun

Beth Erikson, President and CEO of "Visit Loudoun," followed up on an earlier presentation to Council, with a request that to "move forward with the development of a formal "Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) between her organization and the Town.

Ms. Erikson noted that Visit Loudoun had enjoyed an excellent "financial partnership" with the Town for seventeen years, beginning with 2000 with a grant of $5,000.

Visit Loudoun, Erikson noted, is a powerful force in promoting the town and, as a result, generating TOT (transient occupancy taxes) for the Town Treasury. Their efforts go beyond marketing and positioning, she noted, pointing out that their five-person sales force works in close concert with Middleburg's Salamander Inn and Spa, and other hotels and resorts.

In 2016, Visit Loudoun booked twenty groups, which generated more fifteen hundred room nights that generated $500,000 in direct revenue for Salamander.

A formal MOU with the Town, Erikson continued, would help ensure "a better integration with Visit Loudoun," create opportunities to work more closely when looking at economic development projects, create a platform for strategic planning and maximizing opportunities at both the economic development and Council levels.

As for funding, Erikson asked Council to consider keeping their funding at the same level as last year: $30,000.

Erikson was supported by Salamander' Reggie Cooper, a member of Visit Loudoun's Board of Directors, who reminded Council that "Visit Loudoun offered did not just help one property, but rather helped a lot of businesses in the area."

Salamander's Prem Devadas agreed and pointed out that "Salamander Resort would not have been in Middleburg, despite the efforts of the Town, if it had not been able to work out an MOU between the Town, Salamander and Loudoun County." He also reminded Council that, when Loudoun County gave up the TOT taxes that now flow to Middleburg, they asked the Town to support Visit Loudoun. At that time, Devadas continued, he thought it was appropriate to commit to $50,000 to start and suggested that once they stabilized, it would be well worth it to increase the amount to $100,000 to be on par with Leesburg's [annual contribution to Visit Loudoun.]

Following the discussion, Council agreed unanimously to increase this year's budgeted appropriation to $35,000.

Scam Alert

Middleburg Chief of Police A.J. Panebianco reported that he had recently posted on his Department's Facebook page valuable information about some recent and recurring financial scams.

Everyone, he noted, should be wary.

A resident was recently hit with an "IRS scam," he reported, "in which the caller asked for an iTunes card to settle a debt or the individual would be sent to jail."

Another resident received a telephone call from someone claiming they were they were "a friend of their son, that he had been arrested and needed to be arraigned quickly and needed money."

Scammers, the Chief noted, "found out about people by going on their Facebook pages and checking out details" so they could pull off such deceptions.

If called by someone you suspect is a "scammer," the Chief advised, "Hang up." Why? "The longer you talked to them, the more likely you were to give them some piece of information.

"Councilmember Philip Miller added that he had heard stories of "Dominion Power Collections Scam."

Town Attorney Crim noted there was a similar utility scam from "the water company."

The Town, he noted does not CALL about overdue bills. They send out letters.

Chief Panebianco warned that scammers sometimes carefully research where payments could be made locally and reference that location. He also noted, scammers often tell their targets " not to tell anyone else as this was none of their business and would ask the individual not to hang up until the transaction was complete."

Water

Jilann Brunett, co-owner of Second Chapter Books and a member and former chair of the Wellhead Protection Advisory Committee (WPAC) appeared before Council to urge that the mandate of the WPAC be pointedly expanded to include advice and counsel on the QUALITY of the town's water supply as well as the QUANTITY available and processed.

The Town's Utility Committee, she noted, focused on water treatment and delivery and had made great strides in improving the delivery system, shoring up the Town's infrastructure and in preventing losses.

The WPAC she suggested, should "to include not only protecting the Town's well heads but as an advisory group for the future"

No More Surprise Flushes

Councilmember Snyder advised that it would be helpful to have a schedule for the water line flushings and to make sure that these dates were being communicated adequately. Stuart Will, of IES, confirmed he would provide that information.

Support for Officer Putnam

Sam Ti, a resident of Middleburg, asked Council whether a "Go Fund Me" account had been set up for injured Middleburg Police Officer Mark Putnam's medical expenses. If not, he asked, would the Town object to his setting one up.

Chief Panebianco suggested Putnam's family would be grateful for anything anyone wanted to do. Officer Putnam is "healing well," he continued, noting "he would like to return to work now, but neither he [the Chief] nor his doctor would allow it."

Panebianco agreed to contact Officer Putnam to see if he needed anything and said that he, as Chief, "was grateful for the love that had been shown and thanked Mr. Ti for thinking of him.

Hiring for Business and Economic Development

Town Administrator Martha Semmes reported that "she held phone interviews with two more applicants for the Business & Economic Development Director's position." One of the candidates has already been scheduled for a live interview.

Grand Opening on Madison

Economic Development Coordinator Cindy Pearson reminded Council that "Imagine A Holistic Approach" at 15 South Madison Street, was holding their grand opening on May 13th. Owned and operated by Carolyn Castro-Donlan, Ph.D., Imagine A Holistic Approach LLC is a "healing arts center," dedicated, according to their website, "to offering tools for greater clarity, balance, peace, and wellness."

New Financial Software

Town Treasurer Ashley Bott reported that training would begin in May on the Town's new financial software. She also noted that Loudoun County was holding a meeting on May 24th to talk about the consolidation of billings for towns and the County.