July 2007

By FRANK M. JOHNSON, Mayor of Mt. Airy
As published July 18, 2007

1. Flag at Wildwood Park. We thank the American Legion for the donation of a flag and flagpole next to the Pavilion at Wildwood Park - and thanks to Legion Commander Ed Darrah for the idea.

2. Soldiers from our community. Many members of our community are serving overseas. The Senior Center and American Legion, among others, have been sending them care packages. Items such as powdered drink mixes, sunscreen, tissues, cotton balls and the like can be very helpful in the desert (for a complete list, see such websites as soldiersangelsforums.com). The town recently asked whether service clubs, churches and other groups would be willing to help send packages to community members if we knew who they were.

If a member of your family from Mt. Airy is serving in the armed forces, please let us know - we need only a name and full military mailing address. You can call town hall at 301/829-1424 or email us at mtairy2@comcast.net or frankmjohnson@verizon.net.

3. Please continue to limit use of outside water! Many have voluntarily restricted water use, but daily water use is still high on some days. With little rain, the town may need to take action to protect our supply. If so, we may need to restrict the use of broadcast sprinklers - whether portable or in-ground systems - for the rest of the summer, for both businesses and residents.

We may be able to continue to avoid mandatory restrictions if the community voluntarily refrains from using such sprinkler systems. Overall, we all need to be careful about water use and to repair leaks. The town has through a leak detection effort eliminated over 50,000 gallons of leaks in public water lines.

4. Water conservation. It makes sense for the town to establish conservation as an official policy. I challenge our community to save 100,000 gallons from our current approximate daily usage of 700,000 gallons over the next two years. There are many ways to reach or exceed this goal. Many communities offer incentives to purchase water saving toilets and front loading washers.

The town's water and sewer budget includes funds for a pilot program. Even a simple 75 cent diverter valve and "tank bank" can save a gallon a flush (both are available for about $2.00 at www.efi.org). The town will be considering ways to encourage conservation. The Town is sponsoring a workshop at Town Hall on Saturday, July 21 at 10 a.m. - we plan to offer free water-saving gifts!

5. Downtown parking. The Downtown Parking Workgroup is recommending a formal study into the actual parking need and how we should plan for the future need. There are also steps we can take now to better manage downtown parking, such as more stringently enforcing the two hour parking limit and encouraging businesses to have their staff park at the municipal lot.

6. Schools Task Forces. Our community made substantial progress in both counties this year, and we need to consider what structure will work for the coming year. Councilmember Gary Nelson and some others have spearheaded a citizen's effort to focus on future planning, bringing more schools into the town limits, and a more regional approach as well. There may be practical barriers, but the ideas deserve consideration and we've encouraged this workgroup to continue its efforts.

It may be possible for the elected officials to serve the task force functions, or if residents are interested in participating, to leave a single task force in place and either way allow the citizen's future planning efforts to proceed as a workgroup.

7. Use of Town Hall. There are three meeting rooms in the basement of Town Hall which are available for community meetings, but we ask all users to make sure to turn off lights, clean up after the meeting and return furniture to its original location.

The next Community Forum is on Thursday, Aug. 9 at 7 p.m. at Town Hall. Thanks for reading!