It has been an exceptionally challenging yet rewarding year for the City with change, service and generosity as predominate themes.

 

- In January, 2008 Interim City Manager Charley Gaynor turned over the

   helm to Brannon Godfrey.
- After two rounds of interviews, Kevin Sanzenbacher was hired and became

   Police Chief in November.
- The Volunteers in Policing (VIPs) served 2,800 volunteer hours saving

   the Police Department over $54,000 in employee salaries working events,

   patrolling business and shopping areas over the holidays, and issuing

   handicap parking tickets!
- The first year of the online bill payment system has been a great success.
- The City jump started a Go Green Campaign to reduce its carbon footprint

   and to educate residents on what they can do to be more responsible at

   home and at work.
- Thanks to local recycling efforts, the amount of solid waste taken to the

   landfill was reduced creating a savings of over $55,000 in landfill disposal

   fees, 9,200 cubic yards of landfill space, 26,000 trees, 81,500 gallons of

   gasoline, and 17 kilo watt hours of electricity. 
- The Fire and Rescue Department responded to 5,300 incidents and the

   Emergency Communications Center answered slightly more than

   200,000 phone calls last year.
- EMS personnel were able to successfully perform cardiac resuscitation

   20% of the time while the national success rate is 6%.
- The Fee for Emergency Medical Transport Program completed its second

   year and transported 4,100 patients.  The program collected $823,000 will

   for city volunteer stations.
- A Community Development Block Grant funded Frederick Douglass

   Park renovations and sidewalk improvements on Liberty Avenue.
- A Homeless Prevention Grant allowed the Winchester Social Services to

   provide $29,500 in shelter and utility assistance to prevent eviction or

   secure housing for 21 families.
- Parks and Recreation officially dedicated the Active Living and Recreation

   Center in December and completed a major renovation of the War

   Memorial Building.
- The Visitor's Center welcomed over 16,000 visitors and moved in to the

   new 5,000 square foot Visitor and Civil War Orientation Center.
- This year CitE-News was created to assist the City's public communication

   efforts.
- City Council was reduced to nine members with the elections in November.
- The City's INSIGHT Citizen's Academy graduated 29 participants in

   2008, its highest number since inception in 2004.

 

City Council and staff will be busy in 2009 and more change will occur.  The City will continue to focus on delivering services in an efficient and customer-oriented manner and encourages continued participation in your City government. 

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Beginning this Friday, January 16, members can begin accessing the Winchester Parks and Recreation's new Dog Park facility.  

 

Not a member yet?  See below for membership information:

 

City Resident: $18 per year (one dog)
                          $6 for each additional dog up to 3

Non-Resident: $24 per year (one dog)
                          $8 for each additional dog up to 3

Commercial:   $80 per year
 
In order to purchase a membership, pet owners must provide proof of their dog’s registration with their locality as well as vaccination records.  

Members can also rent the dog park for private parties. The rental fees are as follows:

Resident: $50 (4 hour maximum)
Non-Resident: $60 (4 hour maximum)

 

Please call WPRD at 662-4946 for more information. 

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For the calendar year 2008, the City of Winchester and its residents and businesses made a substantial impact on the environment by recycling and ultimately saving the City money.

 

Refuse: Decreased from 7,286.18 tons to 6,938.18 tons. This equals a savings of $8,352.00 in disposal fees. The tonnage difference (348) is equivalent to about 70 elephants or 174 cars.

Paper: Increased from 1,565.88 tons to 1,571.72 tons. This equals an increase of revenue to $37,473.42 and saving of disposal fee of $37,721.28.

Bottles and cans: Increased from 588.71 tons to 607.37 tons, this represents a savings of disposal fees by diversion of $14,576.88.

Scrap metal: Generated about $2,000. Savings of disposal fee equals $375.36.

Yard Waste: Increased by 130.93 tons, while this does not represent any additional cost, it does show a clear possibility for composting, and thus waste reduction.

 

Recycling saved $92,146.94 of taxpayer’s money. This is the figure we would have spent to landfill everything plus the loss of revenue from not recycling!

 

· Recycling saved over 9,247.74 cubic yards of landfill space
· Recycling paper saved over 26,719 trees, and metal saved 32 tons of natural

  resources.
· Recycling aluminum cans saved the energy equivalent of 81,562 gallons of

  gasoline or 17 kilo-watt hours of electricity (equivalent to the energy use of

  330 households).
· Recycling reduced greenhouse gases by the equivalent of removing 1,351

  cars from the roads for a year (as compared to land filling all waste).
· Recycling reduced air emissions by 58.3 tons (excluding greenhouse gasses).
· Recycling reduced waterborne waste by 9.6 tons.

 

These are all fantastic results and great reasons to continue recycling and reusing!  But there is still more to be done to improve our impact on the environment.  Please visit www.winchesterva.gov/gogreen and discover more about what you can do to help.

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At the January 7 special meeting, Council elected the following officers: Jeff Buettner, Council President; and Art Major, Vice President.

 

The vote for Vice Mayor was tabled until the January 13 council meeting.  Last night, Council elected Mike Butler as Vice Mayor.

 

What do City Council officers do?  Read on for a description of these positions according to code. 

 

OFFICE OF VICE-MAYOR

The vice-mayor shall be a member of the common council and shall be elected by the common council for a term of one year. In the absence of the mayor the vice-mayor shall have, possess and exercise the same rights and powers and be subject to the same duties and limitations as are provided by law for the office of mayor; provided, however, that, in the event the office of mayor becomes vacant, the vice-mayor shall only act during the interim until a new mayor is elected. (Acts 1954, Ch. 85, §1)

 

ELECTION AND GENERAL DUTIES OF PRESIDENT

(a) Biennially, at its first meeting in January, the council shall elect one of its members president, who shall be the presiding officer of the council.

 

(b) The president of the council shall enforce the rules of the council, preserve order and appoint all standing and other committees, unless otherwise provided. The president shall decide all questions of order and may give his reasons therefore without vacating the chair. (Code 1959, §§2-4, 2-5; Ord. of 9-20-76; Ord. No. 033-2004, 8-10-04)

 

ELECTION AND DUTIES OF VICE-PRESIDENT

Biennially, at the first meeting in January, the council shall elect one of its members to be vice-president, who shall preside at council meetings in the absence of the president. (Code 1959, §2-6; Ord. of 9-20-76; Ord. No. 033-2004, 8-10-04).

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It was recently decided unanimously that the committee structure will now meet as a committee of the whole on Tuesday nights while keeping the council meeting on the second Tuesday of each month. 

 

In other words, all of council will meet every Tuesday of the month at 5:30 pm in the Council Chambers and focus on a specific area (i.e. Finance and Administration, Planning and Development, etc.).

 

While they are meeting as a whole, one councilor will be the chairperson to work with the City Manager’s office and department heads in developing agendas.  The committees are as follows: Finance, Health Education and Welfare (meeting on the same night); Planning and Development; Community Safety; and Public Services (the latter two will meet on the same night).

 

Finance Committee - Art Major

Health, Education & Welfare Committee - John Willingham

Planning and Development - Mike Butler

Community Safety - Mayor Elizabeth Minor

Public Services - Les Veach

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On Thursday, November 20, 2008 Christopher Dunbar, Daniel Hyman, Sean O’Connor, Ryan Oravec, Nathaniel Post, Bradley Schultz and Eric White graduated from Rappahannock Regional Criminal Justice Academy’s Law Enforcement Officer Basic #105.  During the graduation ceremony the following awards were presented to City officers:

 

Daniel Hyman              Ricky Timbrook Award (awarded for overall

                                        excellence, character and leadership) 
                                        Top Achievement Award
                                        First Place Academic Award
                                        First Place Physical Fitness Award
              
Christopher Dunbar     Second Place Physical Fitness

Sean O’Connor             Third Place Skills Award

Ryan Oravec                   Third Place Physical Fitness Award

 

The Rappahannock Regional Criminal Justice Academy’s Law Enforcement Basic Academy is held twice a year in Middletown, VA.  It is a seventeen week academy for all aspects of basic law enforcement training including firearms, defensive tactics, police driving, Virginia law, police procedures, ethics, physical fitness, etc. 

 

The graduated officers are now in an intensive field training program conducted by the Winchester Police Department in which they are trained and evaluated by veteran officers for a period of at least thirteen weeks.  After field training is successfully completed the officers will be assigned to different patrol shifts in the uniform patrol division.  All of this training helps to ensure that the best officers are available to protect and serve our community.

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The Winchester Police Department recently welcomed a new K-9 into the Department.  Officer Brittney Neer received a German Shepherd named Dakota.  She will be attending k-9 training beginning in February.  
 
Areas of potential deployment for police service dogs are:

 

- Open area/building searches for hidden suspects
- Search for evidence/article recovery
- Search for illegal narcotics and narcotic equipment
- Pursuit/apprehension of suspects in vehicle and foot

   pursuits
- Back-up for violent/potentially violent calls for

   service
- Back-up for felony arrests/traffic stops
- Crowd control and disbursement
- Protection of law enforcement personnel

 

Canine Officers have truly unique jobs in that they have the responsibility of training and caring for an animal that may one day be called upon to save their life or the life of another.

 

Click here for more information about the Winchester Police K-9 unit.

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Want to know in advance what Council will be discussing at their monthly meeting?  Want all the details that Council and the press receives?  Current CitE-News subscribers that are also registered for City press releases will receive the complete Council agenda by no later than Monday prior to the Council meeting. 

 

The January Council agenda was sent on Monday, January 12 but did not include the background documents.  For the rest of the year, the agenda will be emailed to subscribers with a link to the supporting information.

 

If you subscribed to CitE-News and did not check the "Receive Press Releases" box, you will not receive time-sensitive press releases or the Council Agendas.  To receive these notices in addition to CitE-News, please email your request to enews@ci.winchester.va.us.

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Mark Garber, City Treasurer has completed his second re-certification for the title of Master Government Treasurer. The program involves extensive studies with class work and testing through the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center. The Treasurer must also be involved in the Treasurer's Association of Virginia attending meetings, seminars and other events in Richmond.

 

The certification is not mandatory for Virginia Treasurers. But by doing so, Treasurers can continue learning.  For instance, classes include Delinquent Collections, Roles and Responsibilites of the Treasurer, Investments, and Customer Service to name a few.  It also helps the Treasurer stay abreast of the most recent developments in Virginia and the Treasurer's Association. "Learning is never ending as far as I am concerned," adds Mark.

 

In addition, having the opportunity to interact with other Treasurers throughout the state creates a more cohesive group, especially helpful when lobbying Richmond for support monetarily.