City Council approves proclamation for RHS Hall of Fame Week

Steve Frey
Contributing writer

At Monday’s meeting, the Radford City Council approved a special proclamation designating the week of Aug. 26-Sept. 1 as Radford High School Hall of Fame Week and Saturday, Sept. 1 as Radford High School Hall of Fame Day in honor of the six newest entrants into the Hall.

Receiving this honor are Jake Slusher (60s), coach Harold Absher (60s), John Giesen (70s), Brenda Snell Motley (70s), Michelle Ames Shafer (80s) and Andrew Hall (80s).

With these newest inductees, 92 athletes and contributors will have been honored. Jeff Irby accepted the proclamation on behalf of the Hall of Fame.

The RHS Hall of Fame’s induction ceremony takes place Sept. 1, and the night before, on Norm G. Lineburg Field, the inductees will be recognized prior to kickoff for the Radford vs. Galax football game. Each inductee will receive a copy of the proclamation “as a gesture of the City of Radford’s appreciation for their days ‘on the hill’ as a Bobcat.”

Mayor David Horton opened the meeting earlier by thanking all of the utility workers, firefighters, police officers and other city employees who came out to work on Sunday during the rapidly moving storm that knocked out power to many residents and damaged 10 utility poles, some with main transmission lines.

Everyone coming together to help each other is the real definition of community, Horton said.

Later in the meeting, City Manager David Ridpath also thanked and praised city workers for their hard work and dedication during this emergency.

The council approved a resolution setting the allocation percentage for personal property tax relief for qualifying vehicles in the city of Radford for the 2018 tax year.

The tax relief program eliminates the personal property tax for a qualifying vehicle valued at $1,000 or less. A vehicle valued at $1,001-$20,000 will be eligible for 51 percent tax relief, and a vehicle valued at $20,001 or more will receive 51 percent tax relief on the first $20,000 of value.

The council also approved a resolution authorizing Ridpath to sign-off on agreements with the Virginia Department of Transportation and acknowledging the local funding commitment as required in VDOT funding agreements.

City council approved a group of residents who will serve on the new Sustainability Work Group. Heather Governer, Jennifer Bondurant, Amanda Thornton, Annie Pearce, Brooke Love, Jane Fisher, John Register, Pat Fluke and Katie McFall were all selected for the committee. In addition, Allison Wiseup and Josh Neese were approved as ex-officio members.

Prior to unanimous approval of those individuals, the board voted 4-1 to limit official committee membership to city residents.

Councilwoman Jessie Critterton voted in opposition stating that the board should be open to including as regular members people with a connection to the city and extensive expertise that could help the committee.

For example, a Radford University professor with a degree in sustainability would be a logical choice for a member of a committee studying that topic.

“If there is someone who is invested, they’re in this community and they’re participating and…have an expertise that lends itself nicely…I’m going to err on the side that’s giving them full-fledged acceptance to help us create a city that is viable,” Critterton said.

The Sustainability Work Group will discuss the scope of its work and bring back an initial report in about a month for the council’s consideration.

Two citizens, Georgeanne Lavery and Peter Whiteis, were approved for Radford’s Beautification Commission.

Three citizens spoke during Citizen Comments.

Lew Sheckler talked about the rise of Humanism and the banning of “prayer from the city square” in relation to the council’s decision to replace a pray with a reflection and moment of silence.

John Register thanked the council and the City of Radford for its quick response to the power outages on Sunday. He praised the council for “leading us to a wonderful future and a great place.”

Jordan McCay wanted the council to clarify what they mean by “Radford City residents” in a reference to the earlier discussion about city committee membership. McCay is a student at Radford University.

The council then approved a number of appropriation ordinances.

Radford was awarded a $3,825 safety grant from the Virginia Municipal League that will be used to purchase three Phillips Heartstart defibrillator units. One will be placed in the city council chambers, and the other two will be housed at the Radford Recreation Center.

The council appropriated $21,054 for the Eticket program, which allows officers to issue a summons/ticket via electronic means. The Eticket system reduces time, errors and increases officer safety. The appropriated money comes from the Eticket program itself, as $5 is issued to the City of Radford for each summons. The funds will be used to purchase digital ticket software, printers, license scanners, consoles for police cars to mount the laptops and for printers.

Radford received a 100 percent state and federally funded grant in the amount of $129,410 for the Victim/Witness program. The appropriation states that the program “strives to ensure that victims have the opportunity to make courts aware of the full impact of crime, that victims are treated with dignity and respect while maintaining their rights to privacy, to inform them of the Victims’ Bill of Rights, and most importantly, that the victims are heard at all critical stages of the criminal justice process.”

This grant provides for a full-time person who works 40 hours per week in Radford and an additional person in Floyd.

Two appropriations were made in the amount of $31,174 and $24,093 from Federal and State Asset Forfeiture funds, respectively. These are funds collected from money, the sale of vehicles etc. confiscated in crimes. The combined funds will be used to purchase two police vehicles.

The city council appropriated $3,380 to enhance crime prevention programs in coordination with the Save the Next Girl Project. Ridpath pointed out that there is a very active Save the Next Girl group at Radford High School.

In the city manager’s comments, Ridpath mentioned that the Farmers Market is doing very well in its new location on West Main Street.

Councilwoman Naomi Huntington, Horton and Critterton echoed his remarks all commenting on the large numbers of visitors to the market since its move.

Huntington mentioned getting the word out to small businesses about the possibility of becoming vendors at the market with the numerous patrons participating.

Ridpath said the recent car show did very well and that many visitors were seen at local restaurants, which is good for city business. City paving is going faster than planned. He talked about city schools opening this week and Radford University students coming back to the city, with the city expanding from 7,000 to 16,000 or 17,000 over the next few weeks.

Ridpath discussed the need to replace some joints on University bridge. He also mentioned that the brush truck will be active and if brush from the storm is put out, it will be picked up.

The Main Street program application is in, and Economic Development Director Blair Hoke will be discussing that plan at the next council meeting. Horton pointed out that representatives from the Main Street program will be visiting Radford on September 18 and 19 to start providing advice to the city.

In council member comments, Councilman Rob Gropman shared some ideas related to sustainability. One was the possibility of growing fruit trees on city property with the fruit collected for those in need.

Another concept related to people donating memorial trees for loved ones with perhaps a small plaque.

Councilman Dick Harshberger talked about the reliability of city power as a draw to business in reference to the quick repair response by the city electric department after the storm.

He also mentioned the quality of city tap water and encouraged people to move away from plastic bottled water so there’d be less plastic in landfills. He shared that plastic straws might be something to look at, too.

Critterton discussed attending the Radford University New Faculty Reception and the fact that so many people from different places around the world commented that they consciously chose Radford as a place to work and live.

She said it “was just very grounding and very moving that they very quickly saw what the rest of us know” about Radford. She also mentioned how wonderful the last West Side Wednesday was. She returned to the subject of Radford University and encouraged thinking, as a board, about ways to be as welcoming as possible so Radford students will want to stay in the community after graduation.

Horton mentioned that all should be aware of new traffic patterns around McHarg Elementary, as some bus schedules have been changed. He talked about the RU students returning to classes Aug. 27, commenting that it will be “a wonderful thing for the community.”

Horton also mentioned that a joint meeting between the Radford School Board and the city council has been scheduled for September 10.

The two groups will be meeting quarterly during the year, and they hope to have student representatives included.

Horton then stated that the council would move to closed session to discuss a business opportunity.