The regular monthly Work Session of the Iron Gate Town Council was held on Monday, December 19, 2022, at 6 pm, at the Iron Gate Volunteer Fire Department shortly before the Annual Town Christmas Dinner.

Present for the meeting were Mayor Unroe, Councilpersons Kawahna Persinger, Gary Craig, Vice Mayor Councilperson Richard Erskine and Town Clerk/Treasurer Wendy Biggs. Councilpersons Mikki Curtis, Debbie Harris and Jennifer Tyree were absent. Also present were Margaret, Michael and James Jeffries; W.L. Armstrong; Ronnie Dowd and Mr. Miller; Ann Erskine; Gene Patterson; G.W. Reynolds and Jerry Nininger; Mark Biggs; Tammy Lipscomb and Judy and Jerry Clark; Brian Adkins; Jerry Hostetter and guest; Junior and Mae Wilmore; and Trey and Stephen Brackenridge.

The following items were discussed:

Mayor Unroe began the evening by taking everyone back 8 years ago, to the time when he gave his first speech as Mayor at the Annual Christmas dinner. At that time, he really didn’t know if the Town would still be here in one year or two years, never mind eight years. Still, here we are and the Town is surviving. There have been some hard times and some things never come easy here. In the beginning, Mayor Unroe remembers getting a phone call from the clerk at the time, Pam Warren, who would say “I don’t have the money to make payroll on Friday, what do you want me to do”? The answer was always the same: “you have two more days; it will be there”. And you know what? It always was. They never went without a paycheck, even though they have gone numerous years without pay raises. Even when Covid came along and shut everything down and wreaked havoc; no one of it really affected the Town. We didn’t suffer the loss of revenue like other localities did because our main source of revenue is from our residents.

We have lost a lot of folks; a lot of folks who were pillars of this community and people who I thought all my life were the backbone and support of the Town. Please remember all of those people here tonight that we’re missing. Through all of that, here we are, eight years later. And you know what? We’re not in too bad of shape with all things considered. We’ve come a long way and we have a long way to go. Within the last 90 days, doors have opened for the Town that possibly puts us on the edge of taking the steps to a very bright future. While we still wait for the notification of any grant funds from the VDH ODW, we hope that whatever funding we may receive is enough to help put in a pressure-reducing valve for relief on our water system. It would be a huge benefit for us. We have just recently submitted an application to the DEQ for a grant in renovation and upgrades in our wastewater system with the assistance of the RVARC and ECI and it was around five million dollars. All indications show that we have a fairly good chance of getting most or perhaps all, of that funding. This grant is geared towards smaller struggling communities like ours. The application period for the grant closed on December 15th and we will know more in late spring of 2023. This is a grant, not a loan; there’s no payback requirement on it and we do not have to provide any matching requirement on it. What that does, is free up the ARPA monies that we received our the last two years to perhaps use it as leverage in a matching grant situation if we didn’t receive all of the funds for the renovation and upgrades to the sewer system. It is with great confidence that Mayor Unroe can stand before everyone tonight and see the doors opening for a better future for Iron Gate. There have been times in the past 3 years that Mayor Unroe and Mrs. Biggs have met with several agencies about our wastewater issues and funding and have been turned away because we don’t have matching grant funds or the funding to pay it back.

The point is, the Town has been here a long time and the Town has a great future mainly because of everyone that lives here and is in this room. A local government does not work unless it has the support of the people in its community. Mayor Unroe went to comment that he has had the privilege of working with some very strong councils in the last eight years. This current council is very strong Council and Mayor-elect Craig will have the privilege of working with them as well. We have an amazing workforce in the Town; in eight years no matter if they were called on the middle of the night; in the cold or rain or on a holiday. If something went wrong, they were there. It has been an amazing experience of the commitment from each one of the residents. Mayor Unroe thanked Mrs. Biggs for her service and handling of the Town funds and daily operations of the office. Hopefully in 8 years or so we will hear how good of shape the Town is in and how they got the grant funds to get us back on track again with infrastructure improvements and paved the way for a brighter future for the children and grandchildren. Mayor Unroe thanked everyone for an amazing run and he appreciates everyone and everything that is done for the Town. We have much to look forward to and a special thank you to Becky (Powell) and her family for the reparation and serving of a delicious meal. A special thank you to Gary Craig and the Iron Gate Fire Department for letting the Town use the Community Hall, which is an asset to the entire community. Mayor Unroe then wished Mayor-elect Craig the best of luck and asked Ronnie Dowd to bless the food before partaking.

With no further business to be discussed, the meeting was adjourned at 6:15 pm and the dinner began.

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