City Council will meet on Tuesday, Aug. 18, in a business session. No work session is scheduled. The business session will begin at 7 p.m. and will be aired by River City TV.
The session will be held in the Council Chambers on the fourth floor of the Municipal Building, which is located at 427 Patton St. The meeting is open to the public, but attendees may have their temperature screened and must maintain social distancing due to ongoing public health concerns related to the COVID-19 virus.
Also, visitors will be asked to wear a mask while in the building unless they have a medical condition that exempts them from the mask requirement.
Access to the Municipal Building is limited to the first-floor entrance (Police Department) on Court Street.
River City TV, the city’s government access channel, will air the business session. Watch it live on cable (Comcast channel 10 and Gamewood channel 122) or streaming on the River City TV Facebook page.
City Council is scheduled to vote on the purchase of the Schoolfield reservoir from the Industrial Development Authority for $85,000 to provide an off-site source of raw water. The reservoir could provide up to four days of raw water storage, which would minimize any issues on the Dan River.
The former Dan River Inc. textiles reservoir is located on 7.5 acres in close proximity to the City’s Water Plant on Memorial Drive. Danville Utilities staff has spent the past 12 months completing the engineering necessary to design a system to incorporate the Schoolfield reservoir into the daily treatment process. Bids are ready to be issued.
Danville Utilities provides water service to approximately 17,000 City customers and to parts of Pittsylvania and Caswell counties.
City Council also is scheduled to vote on a budget amendment to provide for $37,187 from the Danville Regional Foundation for a study on the use of potential casino revenue.
The Danville Regional Foundation has agreed to pay for one half of the total cost of $74,375 to hire outside expertise to guide a process for how the City should best invest possible new revenues generated from a casino gaming development, should the voters approve an expected referendum in November.
The local share is to be funded from reprogrammed funds in Economic Development’s budget for the Schoolfield Study.
The full agenda for the meeting is available online.
Citizens who do not wish to attend the meeting due to concerns about the COVID-19 virus may submit prior to the meeting a comment for the public hearing by using an online form available at this website: http://danvilleva.gov/council. The form also may be used for public comment on other topics.
Under the City Council’s rules of procedure, comments are limited to 750 words, which is the equivalent of five minutes speaking, for communications from visitors, and 400 words, which is the equivalent of three minutes speaking, for public hearings.
Citizens also may submit comments prior to the meeting by calling a public line set up for the meeting. The phone number for the line is (434) 857-3348.