Media Connection and Your Safety

Where would you look if you were a potential newcomer to Purcellville and was interested in learning about the safety of the community? Or better yet, do you how safe your town is  ......anyone? Well, the logical first place would be the website. So I headed over to the Town's website.

To save you the trouble of searching yourself, you will navigate to the left-hand side of the page to the Government tab. From the drop down menu you will select Department and then Police. Scroll to the bottom right-hand side of the page. You will notice the Police Incident Reports. Or, handier, you can click on these embedded links to direct access.

Until today, the Police Incident Reports were directed away from the Town's website to a local media outlet. What this did was give this newspaper an increase in the number of hits and gave a false report on their readership. How did this relationship between the Town and a newspaper come about? Again the Town has found a way to single out a business to promote, and let a newspaper report what taxpayers don't have unbiased access to. Can you trust this newspaper? Can you trust the Town?

Would you like to see the Police Incident Report delivered in an Alert to your email or phone using this system? What about locating this information in a different location on the website?

Please make your concerns known by emailing the Town's elected officials at:

Mayor Kwasi Fraser

Council Members
  Karen Jimmerson
  Joan Lehr
  Patrick McConville
  Doug McCullom
  John Nave
  Ben Packard

Welcome to the New Purcellville Town Council

The Players
Tuesday, July 22 was the first meeting of the newly elected Town Council and Mayor. Although the agenda does not reflect the length of the meeting, many issues were brought to light through discussions of the public and Council. A motion was made to hold vacant position interviews in open session for Town's Planning Commission and Board of Architectural Review selection, but was voted down. After interviews were complete the Council selected the two representatives for the Planning Commission and a representative for the Board of Architectural Review. I do find it rather strange that the Town Council would select an applicant for Planning Commissioner that that could not garner enough votes to put him in as Mayor as representative of the people of Purcellville. The voters did not want Keith Melton as Mayor, why would they want him deciding zoning issues and the design of the town?

No matter what the people want, the Council votes their own way. Councilman Ben Packard believes that selecting Keith Melton to serve on the Planning Commission, who will help decide zoning issues, is best to represent the people. What part of "didn't you hear the people" do you not understand? He believes that some magic formula of 15% of 50% of the population, blah, blah, blah. Take a look at this. Who's in charge?

EXACTLY!

Show Me the Money
Closed meetings and spending seem to be that largest issues that face Purcellville. Their spending is not always transparent. Can this following statement be true?
"A government is transparent when the great majority of the information that it holds about its activities, policies, etc., is available to the public. Therefore, transparency is the result of information being available."

The answer is yes. Taxpayers should not burden staff for information that should be readily available. The town staff and Council will have to agree that documents they have are created or available electronically. Got a contract, put it up on the web and all documents relating to how that contract came to be in a timeline, including payments, adjustments, schedules etc. A very simple task that anyone with basic computer knowledge should be able to accomplish. Without this information the public does not have valuable information on how their taxes are spent. 

With input he received while campaigning, Mayor Kwasi Fraser brought to Council Tuesday night, the idea of placing the town's financials in public sight so that the residents can see where the money is going. He was the only one that voted for this transparency. Council cited that there needs to be a justification for the $4900. (Don't get me started.)  There are so many projects and financial actions the town takes that have no justification. The people of Purcellville are exhausted over the spending by the former administration and it's still trickling down. My challenge to the Council is to fairly represent your constituents by finding a way to show where the money is going. Otherwise, the Purcellville Mafia might still exist.

I had been posting snapshots of what the town spends on attorney's fees on the Purcellville Matters Facebook page, even though the town has a highly qualified attorney on staff. I have received numerous comments on the over $450,000 spent from July 2013 to May 2014, which is not quite the entire fiscal year. I will post the June 2014 check information on Facebook soon. Although these fees could be ongoing lawsuits, the public could have some basic information regarding a legal action such as land acquisition, personal lawsuit, discrimination, etc? Maybe the Town Attorney, Sally Hankins can help us better understand. 

We all know how expensive the Town Hall project was. But did you know that the waterproofing company that was hired for the Town Hall renovation (over $100,000) is the same company that is performing the current construction at Fireman's Field for the utility/storage building? Yes, Hammerhead Construction performed the waterproofing on the town hall which if you noticed, still has moisture in the basement. And don't forget the ever so famous ticket booth at the Fireman's Field.

The point I am trying to make, that unless you dig for this information, you won't find the details, the waste that your government is performing.

When a Notice of Award goes out the public, do you see it? Could it go out as all of the other Press Release go out? The answer is yes. Do you see anything wrong with this? Look closely. What's missing?

There is no amount. Is this transparency? But in the Town Council Worksession Minutes from May 28, 2013 indicates that Phase A amount is $66,000 for a ticket booth, right. It was rushed through so that the town could make a good impression for the Babe Ruth event last year. Heaven forbid we use the "old school" method of a table and chair to collect fees. My question is, why aren't the leagues that use this field pitching in? Does the town sell tickets at this booth or do the leagues? Why do you have to search for information in multiple locations?

Then in the January 28, 2014 Town Council Worksession is was voted to spend another $321,200 with Hammerhead Construction to build the sports equipment storage building. The only one that voted down to amend the budget to add this expense with Dr. Wiley. Now you know.

So going forward, what is it that you want and need from your elected officials? Are you happy with the Fireman's Field tax district? Do you want to the town to continue with closed meetings for your representation? Are you going to let the town bully you into paying for what they can't afford? is $320,000 a good price for a storage building?

Below are your elected representatives contact information. Do yourself a favor, contact them and tell them what YOU want of the town.

Mayor Kwasi Fraser

Council Members
Karen Jimmerson
Joan Lehr
Patrick McConville
Doug McCullom
John Nave
Ben Packard

Government's view on the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves. tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. - Ronald Reagan