A Government, Not a Charity

November 30, 2023 · By Jay Hubbard

Council's first meeting in the new Town Hall chambers, November 9, 2023. (Town of Middleburg meeting video)

Council met in its new chambers for the first time on November 9, and spent the longest part of the evening on a question it has circled since summer: how much of the Town's surplus belongs to the new Middleburg Charitable Foundation, and for how long? It didn't settle it. It did approve a hunting museum, hear how Christmas in Middleburg will squeeze 1,000 cars into a town of 700 people, and hear from one new Council member. Six days later the Mayor gave his State of the Town address.

Council met November 9 with all members present; the second November meeting was canceled. Mayor Bridge Littleton votes only to break a tie.

A Government, Not a Charity

"Welcome to the new town hall, the first Council meeting at the dais," Littleton began, thanking Council and staff for "a generational project" ▶ video. The applause didn't last.

Council adopted three of the four new grant and sponsorship policies but set aside the fourth, on donations to the Charitable Foundation ▶ video. The subcommittee's draft called for $100,000 this year, $50,000 next, and $25,000 a year "and beyond." The Foundation's board, which has just received its first round of grant requests, hadn't yet made its own ask. Councilmember Philip Miller, a board member, asked to wait for it. Council agreed, and then argued about it for most of an hour anyway.

Councilmember Bud Jacobs put the case plainly: "we are a government. We're not a charitable organization." If the Town's accounts keep filling up, "the time may be upon us that we look at things like tax rebates." He wants the Town's support to sunset, and warned that if donors know the Foundation gets "a substantial amount of money from the town every year that will hamper your own fundraising efforts." Councilmember Cindy Pearson agreed: the old Health Center Fund gave $20,000 to $40,000 a year, and surplus money could go back to residents.

Miller answered that "two things can be true at once." He agreed it was time to talk about tax rebates, but said "between 100 and 150 Middleburg area residents receive support from area food banks on a regular basis. And that's a problem that we're looking to combat that I don't think tax rebates will help." Councilmember Darlene Kirk, also on the Foundation's board, said it should be treated "like any other" nonprofit, with Town help for its first couple of years.

Littleton called the "and beyond" line "an alarm bell": "I'm not on board with forever committing because who knows the fiscal situation of the town at any given time." He also didn't want Miller's alternative, a share of each year's surplus by formula. "Just apply," he said. "It's not a scale, it's not a metric, it's not an equation. ... We don't give equations to other nonprofits." Town Manager Danny Davis will work with the Foundation on its request, and the policy waits for it.

A Museum on Washington Street

The Museum of Hounds & Hunting, North America won its special use permit for the Duffy House at 11 West Washington Street, 7-0 ▶ video. Chair Nancy Bedford hopes to open December 1, in time for Christmas in Middleburg. Board member Mary Ewing promised Thursday-to-Sunday hours, 11 to 4, free admission, and more days if the visitors come. Council considered writing the hours and admission into the permit, and decided against it. "I don't think it's the appropriate role of government to be telling an organization how they should run their business," Littleton said. Andrew Berkley of the Masters of Foxhounds Association spoke for it.

Council also approved two apartments over the offices at 5 East Federal Street, 7-0 ▶ video, and the new rules for advertising zoning hearings, 7-0. No one spoke at either hearing.

Christmas in Middleburg: 1,000 Cars

Michelle and Doug Myers walked Council through the parking for December 2 ▶ video. The cap stays at 1,000 paid spaces, at Mickie Gordon Park, Lost Barrel and the Middleburg Barn, with no parking on town streets; 100 free spaces for residents were mostly claimed already. The trouble is outside town. Last year cars lined both sides of Foxcroft Road and hundreds parked along The Plains Road. "I made my way out there watching families with young kids walking down the middle of the road," Doug Myers said. Michelle Myers asked Council to raise the cap to 1,300 and to consider buying barricades, since the old vendor quit and the new one costs twice as much.

Littleton said everyone feels the crowds of the past two years were "just right," so any extra resident parking should come out of the paid spaces. Chief Shaun Jones will have 30 to 33 officers from the Sheriff, State Police and other departments, besides his own.

State of the Town

Littleton gave his annual State of the Town address on November 15, the first public event in the new chambers ▶ video. He began by thanking the staff, and Town Clerk Rhonda North above all, for "the blood, sweat, tears, aggravation, and hair follicles" the building cost her.

"In a nutshell, the town is in a very good, healthy position," he said. By his count FY '23 ended with a net operating surplus of $1.3 million, and the rainy-day reserve, set by policy at 125 percent of a year's spending so the Town could survive another tourism collapse like 2009 or the pandemic, is more than fully funded. About $12 million of reserves and operating cash sits in the state's investment pool earning 5.53 percent, about $600,000 a year. That money is earmarked for the Asbury Church, where the Town has reserved $1 million and will start public meetings in the new year, and for sidewalks, streetscapes and the water system.

Town Hall was built on a fixed-price, $10.6 million contract; change orders so far total about $230,000, and the contractor bears the cost of the delays. Grants covered $2.5 million: $2 million in federal money secured by Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton and $500,000 from the County. The rest was borrowed for 20 years at 2.5 and 2.7 percent, before rates rose. "Luck is always better than planning," he said. Phase two, tearing down the old Town Office with its asbestos, lead paint and black mold, is under way; a park and a formal ribbon cutting come in the spring.

Mickie Gordon Park, he said, "was an example of when government gets ahead of itself. But it was also an example of what can happen when a community comes together in a thoughtful, considerate, respectful, and intelligent way." When Parks Director Steve Torpy declined help before the June meeting, Littleton told him, "Steve, I don't think you know what you're in for."

The pressure on Middleburg is coming from the west now, he said. Drive out to Lenah and you see "all that open space now just populated with homes and more scars being put across the landscape." The County's zoning rewrite gives developers the "flexibility" they asked for, and to him that means "no consistency no certainty." Asked about the power grid, he said the transmission lines for data centers are "a real problem," and "it's only gonna get more expensive the longer we kick it down the road."

He also counted 10 ribbon cuttings this year, almost 200 children in the Halloween parade, and nearly 10,000 police activity encounters, with the police and Town staff under one roof for the first time in 35 years. New for 2024: a wellness day and a Middleburg Day. Town Manager Danny Davis added that the Town Hall debt will cost about $700,000 a year starting next fiscal year, and that the Town's pension liability is 90 to 92 percent funded (Loudoun Now, November 20).

Also This Month

The audit is late. The FY '23 audit still hasn't arrived, and state law requires it to be presented by December 31 ▶ video. Town Attorney Martin Crim said missing the deadline could bring "unwelcome scrutiny from the state, and it would potentially affect even our bond rating." Littleton wants a penalty clause in the next audit contract.
EV chargers, year five: the Town is talking with a new private company that would install Level 2 chargers at no cost to the Town and give it 10 percent of the revenue. Littleton noted the Town has been at this since 2018 and asked whether it should simply lease spaces for $1 a year and let the market come. Miller: "Progress is often slow." The Level 3 charger is still in storage at Well 4.
Town Hall: the HVAC system still isn't balanced, and the punch list is long. The old Town Office's furniture was given away; abatement starts November 20 and then demolition, with one lane of Marshall Street closed. The lot will become a park (Loudoun Now, November 22). Town Clerk Rhonda North thanked Downey & Scott and the architects, Glave & Holmes and Creech & Associates.
South Madison Street: the VDOT grant application is in. Kimley-Horn will refine the design at the Federal Street corners for about $15,000. The porous paving tried around a tree on East Washington Street is a success; the Red Fox Inn's heaving sidewalk is next, probably in brick.
Safety patrol: Chief Jones swore in the Charter School's student safety patrol.
Events: the 1000 Miglia Warm Up's organizers told Littleton they are "totally committed to Middleburg." Davis said the drivers were taken with Unison, which he told them is "not even a village." Salamander's tree lighting is November 30.
Closed session on the Town Hall contract, the Town Manager's review and staff bonuses; Littleton directed Davis to proceed as discussed.

Public Comment

November 9 ▶ video

Councilmember Kevin Daly, North Jay Street, speaking as a resident before Veterans Day, noted that less than 1 percent of Americans have served since 9/11, that 22 veterans a day take their own lives, and that of about 119,000 living World War II veterans, 131 die each day. "Old soldiers grow old and forgotten," he said, and asked people to mark the day.
Andrew Berkley, Executive Director of the Masters of Foxhounds Association, supported the hunting museum.
Gary Nickelson, Commander of American Legion Post 295, announced that the Hometown Heroes banners are up on the town's light poles, and invited Council to the Legion's Veterans Day breakfast with Franklin Payne, Middleburg's last living World War II veteran.
Pam Curran, elected to Council on November 7, thanked residents and said she was "overwhelmed by the responsibility and the opportunity." She takes her seat in January.
Public hearings: Nancy Bedford and Mary Ewing spoke for the museum and Will Driskill for the Federal Street apartments. No one spoke on the hearing-notice ordinance.

Tips & Wags (opinion)

Tip of the Hat to Gary Nickelson and the Legion, for putting Middleburg's veterans' faces on Washington Street in time for Veterans Day.

Tip of the Hat to Doug Myers, who went out to Foxcroft Road to see for himself.

Wag of the Finger to the auditors. The Town closed its books in June.

Devil's Advocate (opinion): Philip Miller had more of the argument than the room gave him. The Town built this Foundation, chartered it and handed it the Health Center money, and in July the Mayor suggested sending the Town's charitable requests its way. A Town with a $1.65 million surplus can afford to see the Foundation through its first few years without inventing a formula or a forever promise, and "just apply" is cold comfort to an organization that can't spend its principal. Tax rebates are a fine idea. They won't feed the 100 to 150 neighbors who visit a food bank.

Coming Up

November 20: abatement begins at the old Town Office; demolition follows.
November 30: Salamander's tree lighting.
December 1: the Museum of Hounds & Hunting hopes to open.
December 2: Christmas in Middleburg.
December 14: Council's only December meeting: the FY '23 audit, if it arrives, and the Charitable Foundation's request.
January: Pam Curran joins Council; Philip Miller leaves.

Sources: the meeting video (November 9), the Town's minutes (pending approval) and the transcript attached to them; the State of the Town video and our own transcription of it. Council quotes come from the Town contractor's transcript; each ▶ link opens the video at the start of that agenda item.

Other sources cited:

Loudoun Now, November 20, 2023: "Littleton Provides State of Town Report"
Loudoun Now, November 22, 2023: "Demolition Begins on Middleburg Town Office Building"