Newsletter — October 2023

We are solidly in “The Holidays”, how 2023 has flown by! I hope all in Williamsburg had a lovely Halloween and month of October.

The end of spooky season was a busy one for Council, so I have four updates for this time of year.

• Aiming High Co-op — One of my favorites parts of Council work is getting to talk to our local schools. Now three years in, I’ve had the pleasure of speaking to every academic year from Elementary to High School. On October 23rd, I visited our local homeschool co-op, Aiming High, to speak to their public speaking class. Pictured above is that visit, with all of us striking “power poses” to gain extra confidence before addressing a crowd. After touching briefly on what the City Council does, we ran a group exercise where each student gave a quick, compelling, and impromptu speech about a common household item they “invented”.
• VML Innovation Award Ceremony — Initially announced in September, the City officially was awarded the Virginia Municipal League’s “Innovation Award for Communications” for our Future Festivals. This engaging effort led by City staff welcomed over 900 people to provide long-term planning advice for Williamsburg’s priorities.
• Excellence in Service Award to Beth Eberhardt — This link takes you to our October 12th official Council Business Meeting. There, we had the chance to recognize the terrific work of Beth Eberhardt, our Assistant to the Fire Chief, for her years of dedication to the City. Beth has been instrumental in keeping the Department running as we build our new Station.
• COMING UP! Fire Department Dedication — Finally, come join us THIS WEDNESDAY for the official dedication of our new Fire Station. We’ll be cutting the ribbon at 440 N. Boundary Street at 10am! Checkout the link for a description of the event.

Thank you as always for following along. Please feel free to reach out should you have any questions or comments.

Yours in service,

Caleb Rogers

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