Newsletter — May 2023

It is now June and I have officially re-installed the AC units into the windows of my apartment. Summer, here we are!

May was a celebratory month for Council as we got to bid the W&M Class of 2023 farewell and also got to pass our budget. Those updates and more are below:

• W&M Commencement — May is always a fun time in Williamsburg as our higher education partners at W&M couldn’t be in higher spirits. A huge congratulations to the class of 2023 on your graduation! Linked above is 2023 Commencement Speaker Patton Oswalt (W&M ’91) providing his (hilarious) wisdom to the outgoing class.
• Cedar Grove, Blessing of Reverence — Nearer May’s beginning, I attend the 2nd annual Blessing of Reverence event at Cedar Grove Cemetery, co-hosted by Williamsburg Downtown, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the First Baptist Church. This is a yearly opportunity to gather with members of Williamsburg descendant community, many of which proudly hold the same last names that atop grave markers in Cedar Grove, to show respect to their elders. Recently the City has installed wifi-extenders to the Cedar Grove Cemetery so that anyone doing genealogical research has high-speed connectivity to help them.
• Approved 23/24 Budget — Since February, I have been covering our fiscal health as it is top-of-mind in our budget process. At our last City Council meeting, we were happy to pass this year’s budget! Click the link to check out the inner pieces of it, including maintaining the lowest tax rate of any city in Virginia and investing in our hard-working employees with cost-of-living plus merit pay increases.
• Business Appreciation Event — A big thank you goes out to our Chamber for hosting another fun Business Appreciation Event, this time at Precarious Beer Hall. Businesses that are members of the Greater Williamsburg Chamber of Commerce were able to attend, enjoy drinks, a meal, and a raffle.

As always, thank you for reading alone. I enjoy writing this newsletter monthly as a way to look back over ~30 days and pick highlights of Council’s work. Often, that is celebrating the great community (such as small businesses or W&M) that we get to serve, just as it was in May. I hope you have a wonderful start to summer.

With gratitude,

Caleb

*This newsletter is mine alone and does not represent the full input of Council