It’s a busy week for City Council, which will meet Monday for a work session, Wednesday for a joint meeting with the WJCC School Board and Thursday for a meeting. Bird watchers have until Tuesday to enter the city’s bird photo contest on Facebook.
City Council to Hear About New Tourism Marketing Group
City Council will meet Monday for work session, where they’ll receive an update on the process to absorb the former Marketing Resource Task Force into the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance.
Alliance Executive Director Dick Schreiber will present what work has been completed and what needs to be done to transfer marketing work to his organization. In July, members of the Williamsburg Area Destination Marketing Committee voted to let the Alliance run its $3 million annual advertising campaign (read more here).
The work session will begin at 4 p.m. Monday in the Stryker Building.
Enter Birds of Williamsburg Contest
The city is sponsoring a “Birds of Williamsburg” contest on Facebook to celebrate City Project Manager Ralph Patterson’s bird photography and the Wilson Ornithology Conference at The College of William & Mary this week.
Participants are encouraged to send their pictures of birds snapped in Williamsburg to [email protected]. The pictures are posted on Facebook and the photo with the most “likes” by 4:30 p.m. Tuesday will win a $50 gift certificate from Blue Talon Bistro. Three random photos will be chosen to win Blue Talon caps.
Surry Power Station to Test Siren Wednesday
State and local officials will test the emergency alert siren system around the Surry Power Station at approximately 11:10 a.m. on Wednesday.
A steady three-minute tone will be sounded by 71 sirens across the Peninsula. The sirens are located within a 10-mile radius of the plant.
A notification of an actual emergency consists of four separate three-minute activations, each separated by a one-minute interval, for 15 minutes.
The next test will be June 12.
Council, BOS and WJCC SB to Meet Wednesday
City Council, the James City County Board of Supervisors and Williamsburg-James City County School Board will meet for an annual joint meeting Wednesday morning.
The agenda includes an update on the implementation of WJCC’s strategic plan, an update on facilities (including discussion of a fourth middle school) and an overview of the budget proposal for 2014.
The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the Williamsburg Community Building.
City Council to Discuss Library Budget Thursday
The Williamsburg Regional Library will present its proposed 2014 budget, along with a briefing on the joint funding contract with James City County, at Council’s Thursday meeting.
The library’s proposed $6.1 million budget includes a 0.68 percent increase in funding from both the city and county. The budget includes a 3 percent salary increase and a 10 percent increase in health insurance, accounting for an overal 3.47 percent increase over last year in compensation expenditures.
The collection budget is also increasing 7.5 percent to include funding for downloadable audiobooks and music.
Council will also hear updates on transportation projects in the region, including I-64 improvements and the status of Peninsula Passenger Rail Service.
Council will consider changing the name of the Berkeley voting precinct to Matoaka voting precinct, to eliminate confusion with James City County’s voting precinct of the same name. Changing the name would require adoption of a new precinct map, as well.
The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. Thursday in the Stryker Building.
