Strategic Planning, Sewer Pipe Work, Interim Chief, Holidays, More
Seasons greetings everyone! A lot has been happening in town this fall. I’ll start with three items coming up in the near future, then recap the past month.
Coming up:
Strategic planning. The town is developing a strategic plan for the next five years, with the assistance of Ms. L. Tia Blount, founder and principal of Saving Solutions LLC. She outlined the strategic planning process at the town worksession on December 2 (link cued to her presentation). Thus far, strategic planning meetings have been held with mayor and council, and with town employees.
Your input is requested in helping to develop the strategic plan: details on the input sessions are on the town website.
Meeting dates: There will be one in-person and one virtual community input session. On December 8, 6:00-8:00 pm, there will be an in-person session at the American Legion (registration is required); on December 16, at 6:00 pm, there will be a Zoom meeting.
Please answer this 10 question survey by December 30 — it asks for your aspirations for the town, and your perspectives on our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and relevant trends.
Home holiday-decoration contest. This is an annual event, in which the mayor and council observe residents’ holiday decorations, and select the best for bragging rights. In order to participate, please have your decorations done by December 10; councilmembers will be observing the decorations in their respective wards, and will confer with each other and the mayor on December 15 to complete the judging.
Next Town Meeting is December 9 at 8 PM. (Link to agenda and Zoom information)
Recap of this fall:
Work to be done on sewer pipes, January/February 2022-March 2023. At the town work session on October 28, Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) liaison Monica Marquina and her colleagues gave a presentation about the work that will be done in town to improve drainage. WSSC also has a site where you can sign up for text or e-mail alerts about work being done in your neighborhood.
Welcome Interim Chief Carl Miller! And many thanks to Acting Chief Kvech for stepping in after Chief Towers’ departure. The town will begin a search for a permanent police chief.
Ward boundaries charter amendment (ward boundaries). The amendment has had its third and final reader at the November 10 town meeting (the packet for the meeting has the full legal language of the amendment). See my blog post from October 12, 2021 for an explanation of the changes, with maps to illustrate.
Park rentals — updated policy and fee schedule. This policy applies only to reserving a park (this does not affect pickup ball games or informal picnics that don’t require reservation). The updates were discussed at the October 14, 2021 town meeting (cued to the beginning of the description).
Events:
Amazon and Prologis hosted a turkey giveaway at Boyd Park on November 20 (link to my Facebook post from the event). Many thanks to Andrew Pernick and Mo Hummel of Amazon, Bertha Ballew of Prologis, and all their colleagues who helped make the event a success!
Community Caring and Sharing took place on December 3 at Legion Park. Hot cocoa and hot apple cider were provided by Starbucks; the Cheverly Parents Resource Center organized a station where children could make tree ornaments; Public Works employees as always did a lovely job with the lighting, both with the electrical decorations and the blazing Yule Logs; and at 6 pm was the annual tree lighting. (link to my Facebook post from the event)
