New councilman appointed

Madison resident Dan Painter will fill the vacancy opened following the recent resignation of longtime Madison Town Councilman Charles Carter.

Although most of the 20 town property owners and area residents who attended the council’s special May 14 meeting – including Carter – seemed pleased with the choice, much of the meeting was filled with heightened voices as citizens raised other concerns they have with the council. (The council scheduled a special meeting in order to comply with a deadline to fill the vacancy after its monthly May 7 meeting was cancelled due to the absence of Councilman Alma Lu Ayers, who was at home recovering from surgery, the town’s mayor had said.)

Painter – who has lived at 428 N. Main St. in downtown Madison for 10 years – owns Spencer Alexander Used Books, located inside the Perl Building, with his wife, Tamina Painter.

At the meeting last week, Painter told the audience that he has a master’s degree in urban city planning, he worked as a city planner in both Colorado and Virginia for a total of 26 years and that he currently serves as the vice president of the Virginia Chapter of the American Planning Association.

Painter said that he learned of Carter’s surprise, immediately effective resignation from the council from a neighbor and that he had thought about serving on the council for a number of years.

“I’d wanted to do it when I first moved here but I didn’t feel it was right being new…I think after 10 years, I feel I do know the area, I know a lot more people here now,” he said.

As the council was about to vote on Painter’s appointment, Madison resident Chris Gray stood up, interrupting the council’s vote. Gray spoke to the council and the audience for about five minutes expressing his concerns about the council appointing a new member, rather than allowing the residents to elect a replacement, as well as his desire for council members to start proposing actions to “fix” the town and other concerns he has about the setup of the town and county governments.

Although Gray left the meeting immediately after he was done speaking, his remarks set off an hour-long discussion that included comments from both town officials and other citizens who attended the meeting.

Carter shares thoughts

During this time, former councilman Carter finally shared his reason for sending in his letter of resignation from the council April 3, which was the day immediately following the council’s monthly April meeting.

At the April 2 meeting, Carter had proposed the council consider a town zoning change that would have allowed new stores to share their buildings with single-family apartments – an issue that, since late 2006, multiple town property owners and representatives from the Greater Madison Main Street Project had repeatedly asked the town council to consider. Main Street project committee representatives have referred to this type of ordinance as a “business friendly” provision since it would allow either business owners to live in an area of their stores or rent out a space to a family to collect some extra money.
After some discussion at the April 2 meeting, Carter made a motion to put the ordinance revision on the agenda for the council’s May meeting to be reviewed and possibly acted on. But the issue “died” when no other council members backed the motion.

“The day I resigned I was frustrated with the silence that would not support a second on a motion to consider something. Not to pass it, not to turn it down, but just consider it,” he said at the special May 14 meeting.

“I feel like I took a little bit of a loss because I enjoyed working with this group and I’d love to work with them again,” said Carter, who had served on the council for almost 17 years. “But I sacrificed that because this issue needs to be dealt with.”

Council speaks out

Before Carter shared his reason for resigning, some members of the council spoke to why they didn’t act on the issue.

“The ordinance that was written was just not written in the best interest of the citizens of Madison. We didn’t say that we didn’t want it. We just did not like the way it was proposed,” Vice Mayor Nancy Knighting said of the zoning amendment drafted by Carter.

But that response didn’t please some members of the audience, who told the council they were looking for more specific feedback.

“What we’re looking for is dialogue about specifically what ordinance would be [favorable],” said Madison Inn Restaurant Owner Mike Riley, adding that there have been some other situations in the past where the council chose to vote a certain way on an issue and did not provide residents with any reasoning behind their actions.

Visibly upset, the town’s vice mayor said that some council members have chosen to keep quiet regarding their actions due to the “rudeness” they encounter from some town property owners.

Later in the meeting, Councilman Alma Lu Ayers expressed similar concerns saying that citizens are constantly insulting and yelling at council members.

“I’ve heard several comments about me not being at last week’s meeting. I was two weeks out of a hip replacement,” Ayers said of her absence from the council’s May 7 meeting, which led the mayor to cancel the meeting. “One of [the comments] made the front page of The Eagle this week,” she said loudly.
“Politics by its nature is adversarial. So there’s gonna be heated discussion no matter what we do. Because we have public opinion about public matters and I realize it’s very hard to separate that from a feeling of a personal attack,” Riley said later.

“Ironically we’re asking you to give as good as you’re taking from us, instead of just sitting there, taking it,” he said.

“I think this group here is simply saying, they want you to talk to them. They want to hear from you,” Carter told the council toward the end of the meeting.

Painter appointed

The council eventually unanimously approved Painter’s appointment, however they have not yet voted to fill the openings Carter left on both the town planning commission and the Greater Madison Main Street Project committee.

“I hope this will be a positive step and provide us access to expertise that’s been sorely lacking,” Mayor Lamar following the approval.

During the meeting, Painter – who referred to the town’s “downtown” area as “a gem, that needs help” – said that he thought that the town has a lot of “issues” that “need to be worked on” and that the ordinance amendment that took up so much of the discussion at the May 14 meeting was probably the council’s “first order of business.”

But the newly appointed councilman said that he believes the current draft of the zoning change needs to be revised to include more specific wording regarding allowing single-family apartments in business properties. Some aspects of the most recent draft don’t make sense, Painter said, adding that the current wording would have allowed detached homes in the rear, basement or upper level floor of a building in the business zoning district.

“I would suggest that we work together and maybe come up with [an ordinance] that has a good chance of passing, that basically allows essentially the same thing you all want to do,” he said.

The town council’s next monthly meeting is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, June 4 in the town meeting room, which next to the DMV office in the Peterson Building in downtown Madison. A public hearing regarding the town’s proposed 2009-2010 fiscal year budget is set for 6:30 p.m. that same evening.

In other matters at the Madison Town Council’s special May 14 meeting, the council:

• Heard comments from multiple meeting attendees about a chained-up dog that some said lunges at those walking by and that they said poses a danger because citizens may jump into the street to get away from the dog. Residents also raised concerns about excessive speeding along Main Street, and encouraged the town council to pursue passing ordinances to curb these issues. Mayor Willie Lamar said that he had spoken to Madison County Sheriff Erik Weaver about speeding issues on Main Street as well as issues with the one specific property, which has been visited by Madison County Animal Control officers. However, the county’s current animal control ordinance doesn’t provide for any actions to be taken against the owners of this dog. Lamar said that even if the town were to pass its own “nuisance” ordinance, the cost of enforcement would have to be considered since the county sheriff’s office is not obligated to enforce town ordinances. “In general we’ve had a ‘good neighbor’ policy but that time is unfortunately no longer the current situation,” Lamar said at the meeting.

• Listened to requests from area residents about setting up a meeting when citizens would be able to question town and county officials about the reasons behind certain actions both groups have taken on “controversial” issues.

• Scheduled a public hearing regarding the town’s proposed 2009-2010 fiscal year budget – totaling $181,042, about 13 percent less than the current year’s budget – for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 4, prior to the council’s regular monthly June meeting at 7 p.m. that evening. The council meets in the town meeting room, which next to the DMV office in the Peterson Building in downtown Madison.