The Price of Trust
Council met only once in August, and the County's parks department heard about it anyway. Mickie Gordon Park's cricket plan is on hold, not withdrawn, and the Mayor said the neighbors feel "a little misled." The Town also closed its books on a $1.65 million surplus, took another step toward fixing Well 4, wrote the rules for a Town Hall it still can't move into, and got ready for a new school's carpool line on Route 50.
Council met August 24 with all members present; the first August meeting was canceled. Mayor Bridge Littleton votes only to break a tie.
The Price of Trust
The County's parks staff will be at the Community Center on August 31 with maps and round tables, the first of two workshops on what Mickie Gordon Park should become ▶ video. Littleton welcomed them. But he told Council he had asked Parks Director Steve Torpy, in several emails and on the phone that afternoon, to withdraw the cricket-complex application rather than leave it "on indefinite hold," and Torpy declined.
"The commitment to the community in June was that we would start over," Littleton said he told him. "And so. You know, the community feels a little misled."
Torpy's reason, as Littleton relayed it: withdrawing means losing the fees and engineering already paid for, and going back to the end of a line that could add a year. Keep the application alive, and the County can "tweak the application and tweak the site plan" after the workshops. Councilmember Bud Jacobs had a one-line answer: "Tweak as in substantially amend." Littleton said the County's own zoning staff had told the parks department that dropping the cricket fields, lights and new entrance would be a substantial change requiring a new application anyway. "Perhaps if he had consulted with the community before, he wouldn't have lost the $10,000," Jacobs said. Littleton said he had told Torpy, "This is the price you pay to rebuild trust."
He asked residents to bring a wish list to the workshops, not a grievance: "This is our Christmas list. Let's give them a Christmas list." Councilmember Cindy Pearson added that people should bring any idea they have, not just the ones others have urged them to raise.
They did. About 150 residents filled the Community Center on August 31 and asked for a dawn-to-dusk park that restores the existing fields, with room for cricket, and adds bleachers, restrooms, a pavilion, trails, a community garden and pickleball courts, and no new field lights and no widening of Route 50. "You just need to know that we heard you," Torpy said (Loudoun Now, September 1). A second session is planned for September.
$1.65 Million to the Good
The Town ended FY '23 with a General Fund surplus of about $1.651 million and a Utilities Fund surplus of $437,739, pending the audit, Treasurer Tina Staples reported ▶ video. "I'm happy to report you still have money," she began. Rising interest rates did much of the work: "we had budgeted $10,000 and we brought in $195,000," said Town Manager Danny Davis. How the auditors treat bond-funded construction may change the final numbers, and Staples hopes to settle that with the new audit firm. The surplus is the pot the Charitable Foundation asked Council to dip into in July.
Help Wanted: Police Officer
Police Chief Shaun Jones has an opening and some calls, but no applications yet. Neighboring departments start officers at higher pay, and some offer signing bonuses, which Jones said wouldn't be fair to "our folks that are here." Littleton said Middleburg can't match Fairfax's salaries, "an entirely different job," and suggested a $3,000 bonus to any officer, or perhaps any employee, who recruits a new hire. Jones is pitching what Middleburg does offer: no running "from call to call like other agencies do."
Well 4 and the Water Tower
The interim repair to Well 4, pulling the sand, replacing the clogged nozzles and repacking, will cost $44,000, Davis reported ▶ video. The permanent fix, a clear well, drew an apparent low bid of $755,000, with $500,000 of federal pandemic-relief (ARPA) money going toward it; the contract comes to Council in September. Council also awarded $188,237.70 to Fuog InterBuild, the only bidder, to run a Town-owned sewer force main up Stonewall Avenue and reroute two Lincoln Road homes, retiring septic systems near the wells, 7-0 ▶ video. State grants cover most of it and the Utilities Fund the rest.
The water tower is repainted and refilling. Vice Mayor Peter Leonard-Morgan thanked the crew for working through "all the heat and the dirty work that is and the dangerous work."
Also This Month
- Town Hall rules: Council adopted policies for using Town Hall and its grounds, effective when the building opens, and a Disruptive Behavior and Facility Ban Policy, effective immediately, all 7-0 (Loudoun Now, August 29). Littleton called it "hard stuff, especially when you're talking about using a public space and respecting First Amendment rights." Pearson asked whether rentals should end at 4:30 so staff aren't kept late; Davis will try 5 p.m. for six months. The building itself is still working through its deficiency list: the chiller, the cupola, the Council dais and the service windows.
- A new school, a new carpool line: Cornerstone Christian Academy has opened, with four or five buses and an estimated "120 to 140 vehicles" at each drop-off and pickup. VDOT plans to replace the Goose Creek bridge at its entrance, probably next fall. Report traffic problems to Davis or Chief Jones.
- Events: Business Development Director Ali MacIntyre is back from maternity leave and says Oktoberfest is "pretty much buttoned up." Fifty volunteers have signed up for the Mille Miglia. Littleton's worry is the opposite of most towns': "When we get these events to big, they actually become less fun."
- FOIA: after the Supreme Court's ruling in July, Town Attorney Martin Crim urged caution about members gathering, and Council will get legal advice in closed session in September.
- The website relaunches August 30. Councilmembers Pearson and Chris Bernard are rewriting the Town's grant and sponsorship policy with staff.
- The County's zoning rewrite: Littleton urged residents to read the Piedmont Environmental Council's list of concerns and tell the Board of Supervisors what they think. The Little River District debate is September 13 at the American Legion; the Chair debate is October 5 at Ida Lee Park.
- South Madison Street: two concept plans go to the Economic Development Advisory Committee next week.
- Deputy Town Manager Will Moore thanked Council and staff for their support after a recent loss in his family.
Public Comment
August 24: no one spoke.
Tips & Wags (opinion)
Tip of the Hat to the crew that sandblasted and painted the water tower in the August heat.
Tip of the Hat to interest rates, for once. $195,000 against a $10,000 budget line.
Wag of the Finger to Loudoun County Parks, for asking a town for its wish list while keeping the old plan in the drawer.
Devil's Advocate (opinion): Steve Torpy has a point. Withdrawing the application costs the County a year in line and the money already spent, and if the neighbors end up asking for restored fields and a pavilion, that's a park the County could build sooner by amending what it has. "On hold" is not "approved," and the County can't bring it back without public notice. Council has every right to ask for a clean slate, but if the workshops produce a plan everyone likes, the fastest way to the ballfield may be the application nobody trusts.
Coming Up
- August 30: the Town's new website goes live.
- August 31: County workshop on Mickie Gordon Park, Community Center (held; see above). A second session is set for September.
- September: Council takes up the Well 4 clear well contract, an extra Charitable Foundation donation, and a closed-session briefing on the FOIA ruling. R-2 community meeting led by The Berkley Group.
- September 13: Little River District Board of Supervisors debate, American Legion.
- October: Oktoberfest, the Mille Miglia and Dog Daze. October 5: Board Chair debate, Ida Lee Park.
Sources: the meeting video (August 24), the Town's minutes (pending approval) and the transcript attached to them, read by OCR because the PDF's text could not be extracted. Council quotes come from the Town contractor's transcript; the August 31 workshop quote is from Loudoun Now. Each ▶ link opens the video at the start of that agenda item.
Other sources cited:
- Loudoun Now, August 29, 2023: "Middleburg Council Adopts New Town Hall Policies"
- Loudoun Now, September 1, 2023: "Residents Set Vision for Mickie Gordon Park Renovations"