A Special Meeting of Marlinton Town Council was held in council chambers Monday evening for the purpose of amending the current Fire Protection Ordinance.
The new Fire Fee increase for all residential, and subsection that includes residential, was revised to read $50.
Also, in section 6-306: wording was included to allow charges to be paid annually, semi-annually, or bi-monthly. Obviously, the bi-monthly payment would allow customers to have the annual fee applied to each water bill at $8.33 per billing. When the document was scanned for editing, the scanning program picked up various references to the “fire department” and turned it into the “tire department”. Cleanup of those sections will be required. However the purpose of the meeting was fulfilled.
I want to clarify that these changes will apply to property owners and customers within the town limit only. We ask those who voluntarily pay the Fire Fee to honor this increase, as well.
We do not have an implementation date as of yet, but, the First Reading will be Monday, May 23, at 6 p.m.
Council approved a letter providing 30-days notice. That letter will be mailed to owners of vacant properties allowing a minimum Un-Metered sewer charge of $77.33 per each two-month period. Properties that are overgrown with unattended grass will be charged a fee of at least $50 if the town has to mow or call a contractor to mow the property.
On an entirely different subject, I have talked with Pioneer Days director David McLaughlin.
Please note: all vendor and food service stations will remain the same as last year.
As many of you know, up until last week, the plan was to move all food stations south of Main Street for a couple of reasons. In expectation of Tudor’s being open and to address prior complaints in the area of Southern States, a complete repositioning was in progress. However, the expense and time involved for temporary electrical hookups was a concern for this year.
This will be the 50th Annual Pioneer Days.
All vendor locations and music venues will remain the same.
I have received many questions about whether this may be the end of Pioneer Days.
For several years, the Pioneer Days committee has heard the following complaints:
1. Pioneer Days is not what it used to be.
My answer. What is? I used to be skinny and have black hair. Now, I’m the old, gray mayor.
2. Why should I have to buy a badge?
It helps to pay for supplies and events like The Gun-Slingers and musical entertainment.
Finally, committee members are getting older and tired. We need volunteers. We have tried for years to bring in new volunteers. We need new blood and new ideas. Don’t just stand back and complain. Get involved. Inquire. Ask a committee member what you can do to help. Share with them a specific idea or program that you would like to see in the coming years.
It seems to me that most comments lean toward continuing Pioneer Days. I hope to see this festival continue for years to come. But, it will depend on interested parties getting involved. Then, next year, the music may be moved to the Opera House lot and food stations could be situated on Third Avenue south of Rt. 39/Main Street, should the Pioneer Days Board of Directors choose to proceed with new plans.
On another matter, here is some information on Cross-Contamination and Back-flow Prevention from the Bureau for Public Health Title 64, Series 15:
4.1. No person shall install or maintain an unprotected cross-connection in a public water system.
4.2. The public water system shall not install a water service connection to any premises where a violation of Subsection 4.1 of this rule exists.
4.3. After giving written notice to the water customer with an opportunity for administrative due process, the public water system shall discontinue water service to any premises:
4.3a. Where an unprotected cross-connection or unauthorized connection exists;
4.3b. Where a required back-flow prevention meth-od has been removed or bypassed; or
4.3c. When the public water system is denied entry to the water customer’s premises to confirm compliance with this rule.
4.5. When the public water system finds deficiencies in a water customer’s premises, as listed in Subsection 4.3 of this Section, the public water system shall:
4.4a. Ensure that the public water system ceases water service to those premises until the deficiencies are corrected; and
4.4b. Notifies the owner, person occupying or in charge of the premises of the finding and orders that the cross-connection be removed or that an approved back-flow prevention method be installed prior to water service resuming.
