City Manager directed to seek auditor; EDA gives West Commerce Park Updat

Radford City Council presented their Veterans Day Proclamation to military veteran Gary Harris, who spoke at Monday’s meeting.

From left: Guy Wohlford, Seth Gillespie, Gary Harris, Jesse Foster, Kelly Artrip and David Horton.

By WILLIAM PAINE

Patriot Publishing

The Radford City Council on Monday acted on an audit request, passed several appropriation ordinances and heard an update on the West Commerce Park.

Radford Economic Development Director Kim Repass gave the Radford City Council a detailed update on the ongoing West Commerce Park revitalization project, which is located at the site of the now demolished Radford Foundry.

Before Repass’ update, council took significant action following the Citizen Comment portion of the meeting, when Gary Harris took to the podium.

“I’ve lived in Radford all my life,” Harris stated. “Got a lot of friends, talk to a lot of people and I’d like to ask the council to do what they have to do to get a forensic audit.”

Harris’s comments were followed by concerns expressed by Brandon Warden about the need for a crosswalk leading to McHarg Elementary School.

Councilman Seth Gillespie responded by assuring Warden that a solution could be found for the school crosswalk issue.

Then, in recognition of Harris’ comments, Gillespie made a motion to instruct City Manager Todd Meredith to solicit business proposals from accounting firms to audit the city’s finances from 2020 to the present time.

As no objections were given, the City Council then voted unanimously to direct Meredith to solicit bids for a complete audit of the city’s finances.

The City Council took care of some old business by authorizing City Manager Meredith to sign the lease to purchase agreement for a new fire engine obligating the city to pay $887,544 at a 5.75% interest rate over a ten-year period.

Councilman Guy Wohlford asked Meredith, “Have we had discussions about whether we’re going to mothball it (fire engine) right away and look to sell it or are we going to put it into use?”

“We haven’t had those discussions but we’re going to,” replied Meredith.

The city owns a 1990’s era fire truck that was due to be sold in a vehicle surplus sale several weeks ago, but the high cost of a new fire truck prompted council to reconsider selling the older vehicle and requested that an estimate be made for its repair.

“It’s my understanding that the old fire engine is still serviceable,” said Meredith. But no repair estimate has yet been submitted and no determination had been reached as to the future uses of either fire engine.

In other action, the Radford City Council passed several appropriations at Monday’s meeting including $24,000 for the paving of the Teton Crest subdivision, $2,500 for Triad Program meetings and a $1,000 addition to the Department of Criminal Justice Services. City councilors also approved the expenditure of $11,552 in matching funds for the Victim/Witness Program grant totaling $141,532 for the 2026 fiscal year.

City councilors unanimously approved resolutions authorizing the City Manager to execute agreements for the city’s participation in the settlement of opioid related claims against a variety of corporate entities.

The council decided to table the appropriation of $751,932 in encumbrances related to various city departments.

The City Council voted to tweak their policies to meet new nondiscrimination guidelines set by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This allows the city to receive a $700,000 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission for the East Main Street revitalization project.

As required by statute, the Radford City Council signed off on the Department of Environmental Quality’s Certification of Satisfactory Completion regarding the Voluntary Remediation Program of the old Radford Foundry site. The city is in the process of transforming this property into the West Radford Commerce Park and receiving the satisfactory completion certification from the DEQ is a major step in moving the project forward.

The Radford Foundry went out of business in 2013 and first began operations as the Radford Iron and Coal Company back in the 1880s. The city purchased the foundry site in 2023 and subsequently received approval for a $3.5 million grant to rehabilitate the property in two phases.

The first phase of the project involved the removal of 375 tons of soil contaminated with PCB’s and high concentrations of lead and then bringing that soil to the Maplewood Landfill in Jetersville, Va. This phase was completed in January 2025.

Stage two involves removal of the 250,000 square foot concrete pad that served as the foundation of the Radford Foundry. Removal of this “massive amount of concrete” began in August and is ongoing with 11,684 tons of concrete having been removed to date. The concrete is “busted up” with heavy machinery before being ground into smaller pieces. Most of this concrete waste is shipped off to the New River Resource Authority landfill, while some of it is retained to fill gaps at the site.

In February 2023 shortly after the property was purchased by the city, Repass applied for the Volunteer Remediation Program to clean the site of an existing landfill used by the foundry. The Volunteer Remediation Program is designed to clean up contaminated land. The landfill has since been capped and covered.

“The DEQ came out several times a year, inspected the cap that was on the landfill, as well as the monitoring wells that surrounded the entire landfill and on October 31, they provided a certificate of satisfactory completion on the landfill,” Repass explained. “This is really quite huge. The landfill adjacent to the concrete foundation area covers nine acres, complete with monitoring wells along its perimeter. It makes for a nice little sledding hill.”

Repass added that according to the Industrial Uniform Environmental Covenants Act, the foundry site may not be used for residential purposes but only for industrial use. Nothing can be built on the landfill.

In what Repass described as another “huge win,” the EDA has given approval to begin removing 82,000 square feet of asphalt, which served as the parking lot for foundry employees. All of the concrete is expected to be removed by Jan. 20, 2026, and work to remove the asphalt parking lot will begin immediately after that phase is completed.
Repass added that the EDA is marketing the foundry site and other properties online with LoopNet and Costar. The city is also selling properties at 1746 Wadsworth Street at the corner of Rock Road and another on Route 232 near exit 105 on I-81. For sale signs have been installed on those properties.

Repass went on to say that the Pop Grant program, which pays businesses up to $5,000 to improve the façades of their buildings, was still being financially supported by the EDA. The EDA also supplies seeds and soil for the ongoing high school horticultural Planter Program.

“They (high school students) grow all year long in their greenhouse and then in May they take a trip to all of our local planters in front of our businesses and plant the flowers that they’ve grown the entire year,” Repass explained.

The Radford City Council made two proclamations at what will be their only meeting in November 2025. The first proclamation directed all citizens to observe November 11, 2025, as Veterans Day, “to appreciate the sacrifices and contributions of veterans who fought for peace and democracy abroad.”

Council then proclaimed Saturday, Nov. 29 as Small Business Saturday, while encouraging the citizenry to shop local.

At meeting’s end, all members of the city council praised military veterans for their service and most expressed their gratitude that Pulaski County’s Finance Director, Trish Cox, will soon become Radford’s Director of Finance and Chief Financial Officer. City Manager Todd Meredith echoed these sentiments. Cox will begin her employment with the City of Radford on Nov. 17, 2025.