Council Receives Good News on Independence Day Project
By DAVID QUESENBERRY
Patriot Publishing
At its Tuesday night meeting the Pulaski Town Council received some good news concerning the cost of repainting the caboose at the Passenger Station in celebration of the 250th Anniversary of America’s independence.
Nate Repass, Parks and Trails Manager for the Town updated Council on the effort to repaint the caboose in time for the July 4th celebration.
Repass told Council that the caboose would be painted in a red, white and blue scheme. The multi-color scheme was picked because the cost difference was negligible between it and using a solid color. Work on the project is planned to start the week of May 18th-22nd with completion anticipated by July 4th weather permitting.
Repass said that the Norfolk Western Historical Society had originally estimated the cost of repainting the caboose at approximately $40,000. After an examination of using in-house labor and resources, the cost of the project was reduced to approximately $9,300.
The Pulaski Moose Lodge contributed $2,800 to cover the cost of the specialized paint for the project. Pulaski Moose Lodge President Eric McGrady, Administrator James West, and past-President Bo Howe presented Pulaski Mayor Shannon Collins with a check for $2,800 for the purchase of paint for the project.
Of the overall project budget of $9,300, Repass said that so far donations totaled $4,600 with the balance of $5,000 to be contributed by the Town.
Repass outlined the process for restoring the caboose. The entire unit would be washed first with a biodegradable cleaner. Its surface would then be scuffed, not taken back to the bare metal, by a sand blasting technique using approximately 2,500 pounds of walnut shell media. After surface preparation is complete, the caboose will be cleaned with denatured alcohol after which it will be primed using KemKromic primer. The unit would then be painted with Acrolon, a polyester epoxy paint with smaller areas, such as handrails, painted with acrylic paints.
The lettering and stars for the project would be decals applied to the finished surface allowing ease of application and replacement.
Additional improvements included replacement of all windows with shatter-resistant acrylic panes after which the unit would be sealed. Signage about the history of the caboose would be provided by the Ratcliffe Museum possibly through the Virginia 250 Tourism Marketing Program.
Also Tuesday, council received an update on the Pepper’s Ferry authority from Jeff Worrell, current Chairman of the Peppers Ferry Board and representative to the Board from the Town of Pulaski.
Worrell was joined by Lane Penn, Treasurer of the Authority and a representative of the Town of Pulaski. Both men have served 20 years as the Town’s representatives to the Authority.
Worrell gave a brief outline of the Authority’s history noting it began operation in 1987. Members of the Authority include the City of Radford, Town of Dublin, Town of Pulaski, Montgomery County Public Service Authority, Pulaski County Public Service Authority and the Pulaski County Sewerage Authority.
The Authority serves approximately 55,000 people as well as business and industrial customers in the service area and is authorized to treat and discharge 9 million gallons of wastewater daily. Worrell said the operations of the plant were going well and that this was the 174th consecutive month (14.5 years) the facility operated without an effluent violation.
Concerning the current FY 2025-2026 budget, the Authority had billed out $4,979,231 out of a budgeted $6,943,435; approximately 71.5 percent of budget. The Town of Pulaski had been billed for $2,082,998 out of a budgeted $2,955,076; approximately 70.7 percent. Worrell said that the treated flow from the Town was 395 million gallons out of 704 million gallons forecast, which was 56.1 percent of anticipated flows. He said the somewhat lower than anticipated flows were due to the current dry conditions in the area.
For the upcoming fiscal year, the Authority’s budget was $7,460,883 which was a 3.3 percent increase. The Town of Pulaski treatment charges were budgeted at $2,973,935 which was a 0.64 percent increase over last fiscal year. Councilman Joel Burchett asked why there was a 3.3 percent increase in the FY 26-27 budget when at 10 months into the current fiscal year, only 71.7 percent of the budget had been expended. Worrell responded that the increase to the Town of Pulaski would be 0.64 percent and that the increase was due to inflation and spending for capital items.
Worrell informed Council that the Authority had sustained “massive damage” during Hurricane Helene with both the New River Pump Station and the Radford Pump Station being flooded out. The stations were restored to operation far quicker than anticipated with Worrell crediting the hard work of the staff and the preventive maintenance done to the facilities over the years for the fast turnaround.
Presently the Authority is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to recoup the cost of damages from the disaster. Worrell said that $220,379 had been received from FEMA with the Authority looking to recover another $9,265,109. Part of the FEMA cost-covered upgrades to the facilities were for submersible equipment and relocation of controls and equipment out of the flood zones. Worrell also credited Authority Director Ryan Hendricks for his excellent leadership in operating the Authority.
Council next heard from Robbie Morris co-Chairman of the Claytor Lake Festival which will be held on June 13, 2026 at Claytor Lake State Park from 10 am to 10 pm. Morris said this is the festival’s 27th year and he thanked Council for their previous support of the event.
In seeking Council’s support for this year, Morris said the budget for this year’s event is $49,280 with all manpower for the event provided by volunteers. Last year, Morris said there were 42 arts and crafts vendors along with 8 non-profit and 1 church group at last year’s festival. For this year, in addition to arts and crafts and food vendors, events planned for this year include a car and motorcycle show, an adult/youth fishing tournament, performances by the Wohlfart Haus players, musical entertainment by Back Alley II and beach music by Gary Lowder and Smokin’ Hot. The festivities will conclude with a fireworks display by Grucci.
In other action, Council approved a resolution recognizing Small Business Week in the Town. After approval of the resolution, Economic Director Shannon Ainsley presented four small business owners with tokens of appreciation for their business efforts in the community. They were Meredith McGrady, Gem City Market; Eric Russ, 40 Acre Properties; Sunshine Cope, Southwest Calibration; and Shannon Collins, Poor Boys Produce.
Council also scheduled a public hearing at its next meeting concerning a transfer of ownership of four lots owned by the Town on S. Madison Avenue to the Pulaski Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
The next meeting of the Pulaski Town Council will be at 7:00 pm, Tuesday, May 19, 2026 in the Council Chambers of the Town Municipal Building at 42 First Street, N.W.