March 11, 2025
MINUTES OF THE BROOKNEAL TOWN COUNCIL
7:00 PM – The regular meeting of the Brookneal Town Council
The municipal government of the Town of Brookneal met with the following members present:
Barbara LaPrade, Mayor
Mark Wilkes, Vice Mayor
Cynthia Johnson, Conner Francis, Crystal Travis, and Eugene Moorefield, Council Members
Mike Crews, Public Works Director
Bobbie Waller, Clerk/Treasurer
Robert Kolich, Chief of Police
Craig Hughes, Town Manager
Tripp Isenhour, Town Attorney
Absent: Scott Fisher, Council Member
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
MAYOR’S COMMENTS/UPDATES
Mayor LaPrade announced that the Brookneal community calendar is now up and running. She said it may be accessed by going to the news tab on the town website. She said anyone desiring to have their event on the town calendar, please notify the town office.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Upon motion by Conner Francis, seconded by Cynthia Johnson, and unanimously carried, Council approved the agenda for the March 11, 2025, regular meeting of the Brookneal Town Council.
MINUTES
Upon motion by Cynthia Johnson, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, the Council approved the minutes for the February 18, 2025, joint committee meeting and Town Council meeting.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Mayor LaPrade asked that the March 2025 treasurer’s report be filed for audit.
PRESENTATION AND APPROVAL OF INVOICES
Be it resolved that motion was made by Conner Francis, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, authorizing the payment of the invoices for the period of February 19, 2025, through March 11, 2025, in the amount of $28,108.16.
POLICE REPORT
Chief Robert Kolich, presented the police report for February 2025. He said that of the 86 calls for service in February, 81 were answered by the Brookneal Police Department,4 by the Campbell County Sheriff’s office and 1 by the state police.
PUBLIC WORKS REPORT
Public Works Director Mike Crews presented a written report which contained the following items:
- A new finished water pump and motor has been replaced at the water treatment plant
- 311 Virginia Avenue has completely been demolished, ground seeded and straw put down.
- Repairs have begun at 214 Old Main Street
- Dixie Girls and Dixie Boys have begun practicing for the upcoming season
- The water treatment plant has been selected for another excellence award
Councilperson Francis asked Mr. Crews to find out information about the VDOT spring district meeting Mr. Robert Brown mentioned in November at the council meeting.
SPRING CLEAN UP MARCH 24 THROUGH APRIL 4, 2025
Spring cleanup will take place in the town on March 24 through April 4, 2025. The Town encourages residents to clean up their properties during this time, and the public works crew will pick up additional items during this time period.
TOWN MANAGER COMMENTS
Town Manager Craig Hughes thanked Mr. Crews and his staff for working on the ballpark to get it ready for the opening season of baseball and softball. He said Mr. Pete Crews will begin work at the community building on the BEAM office next week. He said that Mr. Crews will be giving him an additional bid on items he can do at the community building. He said there may be a shortage of available funds, so it will have to be discussed to prioritize things that have to be done. He said hopefully a new member will be appointed to the planning commission tonight, and a meeting will be scheduled soon to do some training and review a couple of topics. He said another budget meeting is scheduled for this Thursday at 5:45 p.m. He said security cameras are being purchased for the front and back of the town office building. He said he has been working a lot on grants with Altavista and Appomattox; he said there are a lot of system problems with the grant process right now with the federal and state government.
He said that Councilperson Johnson sent out an email about a data center, and their use of water. Councilperson Francis explained that a data center is being built in the Chatham area. He said in order to cool that data center; the Town of Hurt is proposing to build a pipeline from Hurt at the entrance of the Staunton River to the data center in Chatham; this would pump water from the Staunton River to the data center to help cool the towers that they have. He said the proposal is to pump 14 million gallons of water a day from the Staunton River. He said this would be horrific for the river and those areas downstream. Councilperson Johnson said that J. T. Davis and Cole Poindexter are on the Friends of the Staunton River Board and spoke at the 1st meeting about this. She said the Town of Hurt thinks they will be grandfathered in to use this water from the old Klopman plant that was in Hurt. She said that they are going to sell the water to the data center as well as Campbell County. She said the Town of Hurt is seeking approval to go before the “water board” to request this use of the water. Mr. Francis said he would like to ask the county attorney what options the town has, including drafting a resolution condemning this use of water. Mr. Isenhour said drafting a resolution is an appropriate action by the Town Council.
REQUEST FOR TRANSFERS OF APPROPRIATION
Upon motion by Conner Francis, seconded by Cynthia Johnson, and unanimously carried, the Council approved the following request for transfers of appropriation.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Miss Haylee Rocco, of Virginia Avenue, appeared before the Council to talk about the youth having a movie night in the Town of Brookneal. She said they have a location, but not a date. She asked 2 favors of the Council; one to have a police officer at the event and two for the Council and Mayor to attend and help out at the event. She said that she had attended the Brookneal Community Alliance meeting last night and asked them to form a day of celebration for kids in town. Mr. Francis said the Alliance suggested a movie night free for kids with a big blowup screen playing a movie and featuring popcorn, snow cone and cotton candy machines. He said Laverne Canada is on that children’s committee, and she will try to orchestrate that. He said they would have to get rights to play the movie. Mr. James Rocco, Haylee’s father, said that the pastor of Brookneal Community Church said they could use the church property as their location.
APPOINTMENT OF INDIVIDUAL TO FILL PLANNING COMMISSION VACANCY
Upon motion by Conner Francis, seconded by Cynthia Johnson, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to appoint David Francis to the planning commission.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
Physical Development Committee Chairperson Mark Wilkes said that Mr. Hughes was working on the community building repair list. He said the repairs in the BEAM office will be first on the list. This includes a new ceiling and lights in that area.
TOWN ATTORNEY COMMENTS/REMARKS
Tripp Isenhour addressed that a motion needs to be made to have a special election in November for the Council seat that was temporarily filled last month.
He said that he was asked to speak about an issue with roadways in the town, and he provided a memo to Mr. Hughes concerning that. He said a question came to Mr. Hughes as he was taking office about paper roads. He said in any old town in Virginia this is when roadways were platted but never constructed. He said that VDOT is the primary entity responsible for managing this. He said when the roadways were not actually constructed, they show up on paper in the land records. He said it sometimes creates an issue in the county or town; where you have rights of way technically vested in the town or locality, but the locality does not maintain roadways, so they dedicate it to VDOT once the road is constructed. He said until the road is constructed, the Town has paper title to a paper road. He said the town has no more or greater responsibility than anyone else does on that. He said the general practice of most towns is to vacate those roadways once you realize those roads will not be constructed. He said the land would be turned over to nearby landowners; a hearing will have to be held, and an ordinance recorded at the county land office vacating those roadways to the center point of the roadway. He said the landowner would be responsible for the cost of having a plat drawn up to define this area.
SPECIAL ELECTION IN NOVEMBER
Councilperson Francis asked about the motion needed for the special election. Mr. Isenhour said if that is the direction the council wants to go, then he needed to know what the Council wanted to do. Mr. Francis made a motion to move forward with Mr. Isenhour filing the necessary paperwork for the special election in November to permanently fill the council seat vacated when Ms. Laprade became Mayor in January 2025. The motion received a 2nd from Cynthia Johnson and was unanimously carried.
ITEMS FROM TOWN COUNCIL
Mr. Francis said that he, Mayor Laprade, and Mr. Hughes had a productive conversation with Centra officials in late February.
Mr. Francis said that the Community Alliance is sponsoring a “Hop into Spring” event March 20, 2025, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Mr. Francis said the Community Alliance has a fund of about $2,000 which has been designated for a “love” sign for the Town of Brookneal. He said it is a statewide “thing” that people go and take a picture with the “love” sign in different areas of the state; he said there are certain specs for the sign to be official with the State of Virginia. He said they want something to represent Brookneal with each letter. He said he is proposing to place the love sign on the side of the community building lawn. He made a motion to place the sign on the community building lawn. Ms. Johnson seconded the motion, and it was unanimously carried.
Mr. Francis said the Alliance is planning to hold Brookneal Fest on Main Street on September 27, 2025, from 10 am to 3 pm.
Mr. Francis also said that Emily Isaman and David Francis mentioned the echo in the community building auditorium during a recent meeting held there. He said the quilt club is proposing making quilts to hang in the rafters to help with the acoustics. Consensus from Council was that this is a good idea.
- PUBLIC HEARING CONCERNING THE REMOVAL OF THE DUMPSTERS BEHIND THE TOWN HALL
Councilperson Johnson made a motion to hold a public hearing to research the removal of the dumpsters behind the town office. Vice Mayor Wilkes said that he wanted to express his opinion on those dumpsters; he said he did not want to see those dumpsters removed. He said it is a great thing for the people and a necessity for the elderly. He said he had no problem finding another place to put the dumpsters. Ms. Johnson said there is a lot of abuse there, and there are a lot of people from out-of-town dumping trash in those dumpsters. Mr. Francis said that about 2 miles up the road there is a dump site with an attendant to help seniors unload as well as a more convenient dumpster that you can easily dump your trash in since it is at side level. He said multiple people in the area use the dumpsters behind the town office including the Hat Creek area and Gladys area. Mr. Francis said that if this town is going to be rebranded with a potential hotel going at the old Wells Fargo bank, then people are not going to want to look out their hotel window and see garbage dumps. He said there are also people who “go through” the trash hoping to make a quick buck.
Mr. Francis seconded the motion for a public hearing on the removal of the dumpsters. A vote was taken with all in favor except Vice Mayor Wilkes who voted nay. After some discussion, the consensus was to have the public hearing at the May 13, 2025, town council meeting.
ADJOURNMENT
Upon motion by Cynthia Johnson, seconded by Conner Francis, and unanimously carried, Mayor LaPrade announced that the March 11, 2025, Council meeting was adjourned.
Bobbie A. Waller: Clerk/Treasurer
Barbara LaPrade: Mayor
