Town Council Swears In New members; Passes Loitering/Camping Ordinances

Photo by OLIVIA C. HALE

New Pulaski Town Council members: From left: Steven Erickson (new council member), Spencer Rygas (Pulaski Circuit Court Clerk), Mayor Shannon Collins, Sunshine Cope (new council member) and Joel Burchett Sr. (new council member).

Photo by William Paine

Departing Council Members: From left: Greg East, Michael Reis and Jamie Radcliffe. Each departing councilman was given a plaque with the following inscriptions:

The Town of Pulaski recognizes and appreciates Gregory C. East for his 13 years of service as an elected town official for the town of Pulaski, Virginia, and his commitment to our citizens and the prosperity of the town as council member from July 11, 2011, through December 31, 2024

The Town of Pulaski recognizes and appreciates James a Radcliffe for his 12 years of service as an elected town official for the Town of Pulaski Virginia, and his commitment to our citizens and prosperity of the town as council member from July 1, 2012, through December 3,1 2024

The Town of Pulaski recognizes and appreciates Michael Reis for his four years of service as an elected town official for the Town of Pulaski Virginia, and his commitment to our citizens and prosperity of the town as council member from July 1, 2020, to December 31 2024

By WILLIAM PAINE

Patriot Publishing

This week’s meeting of the Pulaski Town Council began at 6 p.m. with Pulaski County Circuit Court Clerk Spencer Rygas swearing in newly-elected Town Council members Steven Erikson, Sunshine Cope and Joel Burchett Sr.

Shortly after convening again at 7 p.m., the council considered amending the Town’s charter to include ordinances prohibiting loitering and camping on town property.

This anti-loitering ordinance makes it a Class 3 misdemeanor to loiter in a public space in a manner that:

• Interferes with the passage of pedestrian or vehicular traffic.
• Threatens physical harm to another member of the public.
• Threatens to do physical harm to the property of another member of the public.
• Creates by words or acts a clear and present danger to breach the peace/disorderly conduct.

The Anti-Camping ordinance states that: It shall be unlawful and a class 1 misdemeanor for any person within the town to camp on any

town-owned street, sidewalk, alley, or other public rights-of-way.

To camp is defined as the performance of living accommodation activities such as sleeping, lying down, making preparations to sleep (including the laying down of bedding, sleeping bag, or other sleeping matter), storing personal belongings, making any fire or using any tent or shelter or other structure.

There are several exceptions to the Camping ordinance involving medical emergencies, participating in demonstrations and waiting at a bus stop.

Before the scheduled public hearing on these ordinances, Mayor Shannon Collins asked Town Manager Todd Day to comment.

“We have in our town a situation where we need to reach out some way at the local level and assist to the best of our ability with the less fortunate,” said Day in reference to the homeless population living in the Town of Pulaski.

Day then related a story from his past that he believed to be relevant to the situation. In his younger years, Day got a speeding ticket and when he went before the judge, he was offered the option of taking a driving class instead of paying a big fine. Day gladly took the class in lieu of the fine because he had very little money at the time.

“I was looking at a situation where the court system had a law on the books, but it didn’t mean they had to use that law,” said Day. “So, the judge looked at me and he said you can take the class. If I see you back here again, you will face that charge. So that gave me the incentive to correct the error in my ways.”

Day went on to say that the police department wasn’t necessarily looking to charge these individuals with crimes but rather to be able to offer these individuals some sort of assistance instead of arresting them. Day stressed the idea of working with local organizations to offer help to the homeless and has set up a meeting this coming March with several groups and individuals to bring specific solutions to the table.

The only person to speak about the loitering and camping ordinances at the public hearing was former Mayor of Pulaski Jeff Worrell.

“First, let me say, Mister Day I was pleased to hear your comments,” said Worrell as he addressed council. “I feel a little better having heard those remarks. However, it does sadden me to see this council consider ordinances to target the homeless. I don’t know how big a problem this is. I hope it’s not a solution in search of a problem. If you want to pass an ordinance to drive the homeless out of our community, you can do that. In fact, it will probably work. Other communities have done it but you haven’t accomplished anything. You haven’t addressed the problem. You’ve only treated a symptom. You made your problem someone else’s problem. What you will do is add additional burdens to already broken lives. Merry Christmas.”

Town Council voted to pass both the Loitering and Camping ordinances with only Councilman Michael Reis voting no on both.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, Town Attorney Scot Farthing gave a report on the Special Use Permit requested by Calvert Energy to build the Peak Creek Energy Storage Center. The proposed battery storage facility will be located on 11.5 acres of undeveloped property off Monte Vista Drive Ext. between an AEP substation and the railroad tracks.

The Planning Commission had earlier reviewed the request for this 20-megawatt battery storage facility and recommended issuing the Special Use Permit if several additional conditions were met. Calvert Energy agreed to these stipulations and Farthing recommended allowing for a Special Use Permit to build the Peak Creek Energy Storage Center.

Council agreed and unanimously voted to allow a Special Use Permit to build the Peak Creek Energy Storage Center.

Emily Viers with the accounting firm Robinson, Farmer, Cox & Associates gave an audit update on the Town’s finances. According to Viers, the Town of Pulaski is still on solid financial footing, especially when compared to the Town’s financial status in 2020.

Kim Caudill, General Superintendent of the Town’s Public Works Department, updated council on activities in her department.

Referencing the earlier discussion on the Loitering and Camping ordinances, Caudill said, “We have spent a significant amount of time making repairs to the fence (surrounding the downtown Convenience Center) because that continues to get vandalized. We repair what we can when we can, and there are times we have to go back and replace full sections.”

Caudill also mentioned that the Public Works Department repaired 15 water main breaks since the beginning of November and that two fire hydrants, which had been run over by vehicles, had recently been replaced.

Just as three new members of the Pulaski Town Council were welcomed earlier that evening, the three departing members of council were recognized for their contributions to the Town.

Jamie Radcliffe, Greg East and Michael Reis were all given commemorative plaques to mark the occasion.

When the Council Comment portion came at meeting’s end, each departing council member had a chance to speak about their tenure.

East simply said that he’d talked for 13 years and that was enough.

“I want to say thank you, everybody on council, for working with me over the past four plus years,” Reis said. “It’s been a real privilege I would say. It hasn’t always been fun, but it’s always been worthwhile. And I wanted to say thanks to everybody who works at the town. I can say honestly, I have a newfound appreciation for people who work in local government. It is not easy. It’s often thankless, and you get guff for doing things wrong, but not a lot of credit for doing things right.”

“Better days are ahead right now,” said Ratcliffe. “To the guys on the council, I’ve enjoyed working with you. Mike (Reis) I know you’ve always been on that side of the wall and I’ve been on this side, but at the end of the day I think everybody up here did the best that we could. Mister Mayor and everybody, I’ve enjoyed it. So Merry Christmas everybody and a Happy New Year and push forward!”