Danville City Council – LIVE! (10/21/2014)

Editor’s Note: This article is now complete. We’ll have a BreakDown article analyzing what happened later this week on SouthsideCentral.

We’re LIVE! at Danville City Hall for tonight’s Danville City Council meeting. We start with a special closed session work meeting at 5:30 PM (dealing with the confederate flag issue), then the regular business meeting at 7:00 PM (here’s the link to our preview article). We’ll try to stick around for at least part of the work session following the business meeting. Be sure to refresh this page often for the latest commentary, photos and happenings. We’ll clean the article up once we get home and add some bonus content.

This first closed session is with the coal ash lawyer team, and not about the Confederate flag issue.

Closed session starts at 5:45 PM. I don’t expect any action after this briefing.

We’ve got a full house with people standing in the hallway tonight.

Hey Dolores!

Note the coal ash legal team in the back archway…

Eric Deaton and Duke Energy’s Davis Montgomery will also speak tonight.

We start with a proclamation for National Substance Abuse Prevention Month. Sherman Saunders recognizes former Mayor Sam Kushner in the gallery.

Eric Deaton is asked to speak first.

Deaton gives his farewell speech, mentioning the Lifepoint projects that will continue. Jerry Dooley will become interim CEO for DRMC and the market.

Sherman Saunders gives Deaton high praise and Fred Shanks does the same. Gary Miller talks about having 6 CEO’s while he was head of medicine at Danville Regional Medical Center. Larry Campbell reminds that Deaton gave himself the title of “Chief Servant” and he says the next CEO must continue Deaton’s path. Alonzo Jones mentions me somehow. We heart Alonzo. Buddy Rawley talks about the internship and nursing program. Lee Vogler wishes Deaton the best. James Buckner echoes previous remarks. John Gilstrap talks about his hospital experiences and gives his own ReportCard! grade of A+++. Heh. Joe King, Ken Larking, Sue Demasi and Clarke Whitfield wish him the best. Deaton leaves with class.

Davis Montgomery, district manager from Duke Energy, introduces the attorney that’s negotiating with the city. Montgomery is recapping the last few months’ events. The $10 million fund they started is for VA, NC and SC. They dedicated $1.5 million of that to the Danville region. $250K of that went to the Danville Community Foundation & also to the Rockingham County Foundation. $500K for Abreu-Grogan park renovations.

Sherman Saunders sorta goes after Duke Energy saying “Danville has suffered”, saying some citizens still say that they won’t drink the tap water. Um, well… those people are stupid because the water never was affected. Saunders says he drinks tap water…

… but that bottled water is back. Bwahahahaha!

Danville’s coal ash attorney team is over on the side taking notes.

On to other comments. Frank Harvey from the Sons of Confederate Veterans speaks first. He talks about the organization and their goals.

He reads three things off of paper but only sounds like he’s reading things off of a paper. Nothing Danville-related, and that’s not helping his cause. Saunders ask for people who agree with him to stand. Most of the gallery does.

Barry Eisenhower from the Confederate Flaggers speaks next. He says Lexington has a high unemployment rate because they have ran off tourism. Um. Yeah. Right.

Next commenter talks about the Civil War and it’s not all about slavery. He wonders if Harry Wooding and Lady Astor will come down next. He asks if council will be the next Hitler and the Nazis, rewriting history. GODWIN’S LAW! I quit paying attention.

Wayne Byrd, president of the Danville Historical Preservation Association, speaks next. He talks about a marker on the museum building that is missing?

Throughout all four of these speakers, all Council members are paying close attention.

Petrina Carter speaks next. She speaks in favor on putting the flag in the museum. She says the results of slavery are still being felt today. Huh?

Missy Neff Gould speaks and says if this flag offends even one person or makes someone unwilling to move to Danville, the flag should be moved inside the museum.

Royce Agee, president of the Sons of Confederate Veterans speaks next. He talks about a state law that says local governments can’t interfere with war monuments. Agee says “Let’s talk it out before we go to court.”

After 35 minutes of this, Council seems to be getting tired of this. I certainly am.

Glen Scearce now talks about the history of the Civil War or at least his version of it. This speech is incoherent at best and is becoming sadly hilarious. God make this stop. He’s now talking about if Kennedy lived, the Vietnam war or something and by now I’ve clawed my eyes out. Dear god, Sherman Saunders pushes this guy to wrap up and I’m agreeing with Saunders. Worlds are colliding,people! This was the worst speech I’ve ever heard at a council meeting.

Next guy brings his flag prop, and says the right to not be offended isn’t in the bill of rights. That’s all for the public comment and the mayor calls for a recess.

We’re back after a 10 minute recess and the “Madison Whittle Effect” item is pulled from the agenda because “staff needs to work on it more”. The Watson St. property is rezoned.

The property owners from New Jersey are here to defend their rezoning request. They want it rezoned so it’s easier to resell. That’s not the way it works as a new business or end user requests the rezoning, not the original owner. There is no city sewer service to the area so that limits what types of businesses that can locate there. Alonzo Jones moves to table, and that fails 3-6. John Gilstrap asks if it can be sent back to the planning commission. Fred Shanks has moved to deny the motion. Buddy Rawley says if all neighbor responses were against this and the planning commission was 0-6 against it, if Council goes against that why do they have a planning commission? Lee Vogler reminds everyone that it’s only a 4 month waiting period to do this rezoning again. Shameless yet well-deserved plug. Rezoning is denied by a 9-0 vote.

The issue about the vinyl windows of that so-called historic building is pulled from the agenda again. The property owner was still conferring with his attorney. Later in the meeting, John Gilstrap asks about that since it’s now the second time it’s been pulled. City Attorney Clarke Whitfield says the property owner has one more chance to get it discussed or he’s out.

We continue in Speed Round mode. The Job Bust repayments for GOK & Web Parts pass with no comments from council. Everything else does too. In a side note, the Comcast franchise extension originally came with an up to $1.00 surcharge to be added to cable bills to pay for a studio for the city’s TV station (Comcast is going to decommission their in-house studio). Council shot that down at the last work session.

Around the horn time. Clarke Whitfield congratulates GW football for going 7-0 so far. James Buckner speaks. With a hashtag #LoveWhereYoureFrom

Larry Campbell asks about having In God We Trust in Council chambers. Both Campbell and John Gilstrap thanks citizens for their comments. Alonzo Jones mentions SouthsideCentral’s ReportCard articles, also Schoolfield Elementary’s events. Gary Miller mentions the River District festival’s success. Buddy Rawley talks about Averett’s successful Homecoming weekend. Fred Shanks gets a good zinger in saying that he wished citizens were involved on all city government as they are on the Confederate flag issue. Lee Vogler supports the property owner of the Main St. property and his vinyl replacement windows. Sherman Saunders thanks citizens for their opinions.

With everything that went on tonight, we’ll do a BreakDown article on this meeting later on.