Town council has a vacancy, again

Mayor Fred Catlin reported to the Washington Town Council, at its regular monthly meeting Monday night, that the council’s newest member is resigning.

Joan Platt, who joined the council in June to replace Katharine Leggett, sent a resignation letter to the council to say she has personal matters that will soon be taking up most of her time, Catlin said. The council agreed to set a Nov. 30 deadline for letters of application from any town residents interested in the position; the letters should be directed to town clerk Barbara Batson at town hall.

In other actions, the council approved the town’s new water and sewer system policy, described by council member Mary Ann Kuhn as “consumer friendly,” to be sent to customers with their December bills; and voted unanimously to allocate $500 from its general fund

to make a donation to the Rappahannock Food Pantry. (Normally the nonpro t pantry is a bene ciary of proceeds of the Washington Christmas Parade and Celebration, canceled this year due to COVID-19 concerns.)

For the town’s holiday decorations this year, the council also decided to use $500 allocated for marketing in this year’s bare- bones budget — as Treasurer Gail Swift described it, having sculpted it amid COVID cutbacks this spring. It also voted unanimously to task Kuhn with writing a resolution to honor Ray Gooch, a longtime town council member who passed away two weeks ago, to be acted on at the council’s December meeting.