Dublin Council Celebrates Achievements
By David Quesenberry
Patriot Publishing
As the Town of Dublin moves closer to the start of the new year, it will take on a different look and style from the past. By January 1st the Town will have a new Mayor, a new Town Manager, and new members of Council ready to begin their duties as the representatives and trustees of the Town’s citizens.
Before the regular Council meeting on September 19th, the Council and Town Manager Tye Kirkner reviewed the achievements and challenges the Town had over the past 30 years. Concerning his presentation, Kirkner said “The more I got into it, the more I realized how many things have changed and I got further excited by looking at where we were 30 years ago and then where we are now. It’s a drastic transformation and we still have challenges and things like that.”
Kirkner reviewed a list of large scale projects that the Town had been a part of. The largest and most important project was the purchase/gifting of the former ammunition plant and Burlington facility for an industrial park. The Town purchased the 101 acres and 10 shell buildings of the ammunition plant in 1993 and accepted by donation the remaining 170 acres and 359,000 square feet of the former Burlington facility in 1994.
Kirkner said the decision to acquire the Burlington property “made one of the biggest decisions for us, one of the better decisions that Council and the Mayor have ever made to help supplement the need for additional taxes by using the industrial park as a revenue generation point.”
The second most prominent project mentioned was the construction of the Dublin Town Hall, completed in 1997. Completed on a portion of the former ammunition plant property, the Town offices are now owned free and clear with retirement of the loan in 2022.
The Town also participated in a number of cooperative efforts with Pulaski County and regional municipalities on multiple projects. Projects mentioned included among others: the Post Office, Alexander Park, NRV Regional Jail, Pulaski County Animal Shelter, the New River Criminal Justice Training Academy, New River Resource Authority regional landfill, the New River Valley Airport and the Pulaski Adult Day Care and Fall Prevention Center.
Of special note was the Town’s support and involvement in establishing the Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery in 2011. Kirkner said that Mayor Skeens, former Councilman Dallas Cox and Councilwoman Edith Hampton were greatly involved in getting the cemetery established and in operation.
The Town also assisted new businesses in the local area such as Walmart, the renovation of the Wade’s building for three new businesses, and the Gateway Private School.
Kirkner said that advances were also made to assist Town employees. The Town joined the Virginia Retirement System, while maintaining minimal employee contributions for health insurance. Additional assistance was made available for employee post retirement needs as well as providing additional days off.
With respect to General Fund revenue improvements, the Town made major strides in supplementing local revenues. The largest improvement was the Town’s enrollment in the VDOT Urban Maintenance Program in which the Town receives a state reimbursement for road maintenance based on lane miles in the Town. For Fiscal Year 2024-2025, the Town will receive approximately $850,000 in its maintenance allotment from the state.
The Town was also able to increase investments in its General Fund Departments by receiving grants for both equipment and vehicles. As an example, Kirkner said the Police Department had received some $277,000 in grants for equipment, vehicles and facility improvements. The Town was able to implement a work orders system and gain Geographic Information System access to assist with overall Town operations.
Regarding the Town’s Enterprise Fund, which includes utilities and the Industrial Park, Kirkner said the Town had made great strides in investment and service provision. Council was shown that the Town had received some $5.7 million in grant funding for utility service improvement and brownfield assessment for the Industrial Park, with the possibility of an additional $300,000 water grant.
Kirkner said that the Town had focused on improving utility service by reducing water loss by increasing efficiency and replacing water lines. The Town invested $1.4 million in a radio read system for the Town’s water meters. The replacement of approximately 2,650 meters would allow higher accuracy in readings along with labor savings. The increased accuracy could result in a 3 percent to 8 percent savings in water loss. Customers could be provided with “real time” readings with faster notification of any potential problems.
The Town had also implemented daily master meter monitoring for water supplied by the County. Most importantly, Kirkner added was the Town’s starting an aggressive water repair and replacement policy. Examples of recent line replacement projects included Dunbar Avenue, Haga Drive and Jordan Street. The policy also required the Town to repair what it could anytime crews were required to “break ground” on a utility issue and a problem was found.
The report mentioned several challenges the Town faced with respect to its utility systems. Water loss rates from the system remains a problem, given the age of the infrastructure and the 325,000 linear feet of existing water lines. The replacement needs for Water and Sewer Utilities totals over $3.5 million annually. Both material funds and reserves are needed to maintain both material inventory and funding for continued system improvements.
However, Kirkner told Council that the Town did have several advantages that it could use to meet these challenges. The Town had the tools and equipment to do the job required as well as an aggressive crew/management staff to complete projects in-house. In addition, the Town had made advances in grants for materials, replacement capabilities, and facilities to meet these challenges.
Kirkner said that the most vital effort of the Town was the investment in the former Burlington Main Plant which he described as “our financial sleeping giant”. Investment in this asset was something that had to be done to increase revenue for the citizens. The advantages of the facility was having some 158 acres for future growth in addition to its location.
One successful project by the Town was the replacement of the electrical system in the main plant. The facility was converted to 480 volt and 240 volt systems supplied by Appalachian Power in all buildings. Due to a major insurance claim, the resulting work was done at no cost to the Town. Additional work included removal of the existing substation and removal and disposal of some 120 transformers.
With the overall project focus on continued conversion of the Main Plant from a manufacturing facility to a storage facility, the Town did a number of modifications and repairs to the plant. Among the many tasks performed were garage renovations, asbestos removal, roof replacement; roof drain replacement, roof equipment removal, generator installation, paving replacement and removal of old overhead utility lines and services to allow more head room for storage. In addition, new offices and restroom facilities had been built within the Main Plant to accommodate the current tenant, Camrett Logistics.
Following the presentation Mayor Benny Skeens was complementary on the efforts made by the Town. He said “What we’ve seen today and the results of what he has shown you guys, certainly didn’t come from me or any one person. We’ve been very fortunate. We’ve got really good people. We’ve got some of the finest employees you’ll ever find. Those folks are here not because they have to come to a job but they feel like what they do matters, and it does. I want to thank everybody in the Town of Dublin. Anything that has happened good, while I’ve been here, is because somebody else stepped forward and said this is what needs to be done and I’m going to do it.”
Kirkner added “We are very excited about what we are becoming for our citizens. We are very excited about where we are going because we are trying to get over humps and we have gotten over a lot of humps and we are going to continue to do that. We are right on the edge of some really neat things.”
The Dublin Town Council’s next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 17, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Dublin Town Center.