The Rainelle Christmas Parade will take place on Saturday, December 4 at 6 p.m.
According to Rainelle Mayor Robin Williams, who spoke at the Rainelle Town Council meeting on Monday, Nov. 22, parade line-up will begin at 4 p.m. at the Army Reserve Center.
“This year, we will have the best decorated home and best decorated business,” Williams said. She added that those who are interested in decorating for the contest should call Rainelle Town Hall at 304-438-7191, and provide their address to be placed on the judging list.
“We will be glad to come by and look at your house on December 3,” Williams said. An award will be given to the best decorated home and business on December 4.
Williams noted that town hall will be closed on November 24 and 25 for the Thanksgiving holiday.
In other Rainelle business,
-Williams provided an update on the stormwater drainage project.
She said that she, along with Recorder Eddie Midkiff and Councilmember Ron Fleshman, recently met with representatives from Region 4 Planning and Development Council and Thrasher Engineering regarding the project.
Zac Wright, with Thrasher Engineering, explained that a meeting must still take place on December 14 to discuss “financial steps” before the council will have access to the nearly $10 million grant the town recently received for the project.
He said that following the December meeting, engineers will be able to finalize plans for the project and work with town officials to receive their input.
“We want to prioritize the areas that are critical in town and those areas that are a little less critical, we’ll do some kind of maintenance to make those improve,” Wright said, referencing the rise in material costs and inflation.
He estimated that construction to remove old lines and place new ones could begin as early as spring;
-Council approved the purchase of a water flow meter for the town’s water system.
Midkiff explained that the town has been working on the water system to improve water quality. Part of the improvement involves providing the water department with a system to “more accurately measure” water flow and find the correct percentage to run through the filters. Too much water flow creates holes in the filters, and then no water filtering occurs, he noted. He said that town officials are continuing to learn the proper ways to maintain the water system.
Councilmember Rick McCall stated that he has been noticing an improvement in the water quality over the past several months. He said he has had to clean out the mico-filters on his home faucets to remove sand deposits, but he is happy to not do that as often.
Williams added that the water flow meter costs $4,160, but the town can use American Rescue Plan Act funding to make the purchase. It should be purchased in the next few weeks;
-Council agreed to postpone the donation of the piece of land that once housed the King Coal Hotel to the Rainelle Farmer’s Market until they become “a little more established”;
-Council approved the donation of a town owned Dodge Durango to the Rainelle Fire Department;
-Council went into executive session at the end of the meeting. They did not discuss the reason for entering the session. Following the meeting, which was being streamed on Facebook due to the ongoing pandemic, council did not provide live feed on any motions made after entering into executive session.
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