The Martinsville City Council has approved five residents to serve on a newly formed city charter review committee, a step toward evaluating and updating the city’s governing document for the first time in decades.
During its Feb. 18 meeting, the council approved Barbara Seymour, Gene Teague, Andy Hall, Jennifer Bowles, and Kimble Reynolds as committee members. Each council member was responsible for nominating one individual, though it was not publicly stated who selected each nominee.
The names were read by Deputy City Clerk Peyton Nibblett. According to City Manager Aretha Ferrell-Benavides, this was solely the approval of the names provided by council members and not the official resolution to approve the committee itself.
“What we will do is bring back the resolution that will define the roles and responsibilities. It’s almost done, but we will bring that back on next Tuesday with the names appointed,” Ferrell-Benavides said.
Vice Mayor Kathy Lawson made a motion to approve the list of names, seconded by Rayshaun Gravely, and the matter was open for discussion. Council member Aaron Rawls asked, “When we approve this, are we also approving every member?” Ferrell-Benavides said that the council could approve the candidates as a group or individually. Rawls said, “I’ll have to go individually on that one.”
Seymour, Teague, Hall, and Reynolds all received a 5-0 approval. Bowles was approved in a 3-2 vote, with Rawls and Julian Mei dissenting.
Mayor LC Jones clarified the purpose of the committee and noted it has nothing to do with reversion as some have speculated.
“I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about that the creation of this committee is to spark up the reversion conversation, and just killing that conversation all together. The reason we’re doing this committee is because we haven’t had any major changes to our charter since probably the ‘50s… We’re just looking at an overhaul and giving citizens the opportunity to kind of look at this thing, and I think we put together a good group,” Jones said.
Ferrell-Benavides added more information about the committee’s task. “We’ll be working not just to go through and look at the entire charter, but also working with the subcomponents of it because it’s not just a city function, there are constitution officers, and we’ll be working with them. We do have at least one representative of our constitutional group on that,” Ferrell-Benavides said.
She added that the City of Danville recently used a similar process and revamped their city charter. “This is a great opportunity. The City of Danville just completed a similar exercise and did a full revamp of their entire charter. We’ve gone with small changes, but we feel this is a very big lift,” Ferrell-Benavides said.
A full description of the committee’s duties will be presented alongside the formal resolution at the Feb. 25 meeting.
In other matters, the council:
*Heard a presentation and considered a request from Brad Kinkema, CEO of the Martinsville YMCA. He requested $500,000 from the city to support the development of a splash pad at the upcoming Lester Family Martinsville-Henry County YMCA facility. The planned facility will feature indoor and outdoor recreational spaces, rental areas for events, and an early learning center.
Kinkema emphasized the splash pad as a key feature of the project and noted that it aligns with recommendations from the city’s Parks and Recreation Study.
“One of the key features is the splash pad. We’re very excited about that, I know the city’s excited about that because that was one of the things that was in your Parks Study. It was the number one thing, I believe,” Kinkema said.
He also requested $500,000 from Henry County for the project, calling it a cost-effective investment compared to building a separate facility, which could cost up to $2 million.
“I think it’s a great joint venture for the municipalities and the YMCA,” Kinkema said.
* Adopted Rules of Council as presented by Nibblett. Ferrell-Benavides stated that the city did not previously have governance documents or rules of the council. “We were provided with examples from other communities throughout Virginia and as we started this process, we discovered that we really needed to look at the legislative pieces of it and make sure that they were consistent,” she said.
Most city organizations adopt their rules on an annual basis, and the documents have the flexibility to be changed and adapted as laws and standards change.
Nibblett stated that the intention of the documents is just to act as a guideline. “These are supposed to set operation rules and establish policies for the council. They’re really meant to be kind of a guidebook or reference point, especially for new oncoming council,” Nibblett said.
The document will be made available on the city website.
* Heard concerns about the ongoing coyote problem in the city. Dean Johnston, a city resident, represented a group of multiple concerned citizens who had been experiencing an issue with large numbers of coyotes encroaching further into the city and onto their properties.
Johnston played a video he received from a Mulberry resident’s house of a large pack of coyotes barking and howling.
Johnston read an excerpt from the Virginia Department of Wildlife and Resource (DWR) webpage, which lists coyotes as a nuisance animal. “It is important not to encourage or even tolerate coyotes around your residence. The longer they are allowed to remain, the bolder and more aggressive they are likely to become to humans and pets,” he read.
Johnston noted that coyotes pose a threat to small pets and children, but there are few options available to city residents.
“I’ve lived here in Martinsville for a long time. I have a granddaughter that’s three and a granddaughter that’s one and a half,” he said. “A lot of people here have small dogs that they like to go on a walk with. It’s a predatory animal, it kills for its food, and it does not need to be inside the city where we have limited ability to remove those animals,” he said.
Johnston asked that the city work with state wildlife officials and allow residents to work with law enforcement to remove the coyotes.
Martinsville Police Deputy Chief Chad Rhoads confirmed that discussions were underway with state agencies and city officials. He stated that a removal plan was being finalized and could be implemented as early as next week.
Residents could see a difference “as early as next week,” Rhoads said, though details were not publicly disclosed.
Council member Julian Mei suggested blasting and grading work on a road construction project in Patrick County as a potential reason for the influx of coyotes into the city. Mei suggested air horns and spiked collars/harnesses for dogs as a possible short-term deterrent.
*Tabled discussion of the refuse ordinance until the second council meeting in May.
*Approved minutes from the Jan. 28 meeting.
