Danville City Council discusses stage shell for park

Danville City Council is considering a request to help pay for improvements at Ballou Park’s stage.

The Rotary Club of Danville has proposed sharing the cost of a stage shell, with the club donating $10,000 for the project this year and committing to $5,000 a year over the next three years.

The proposal asks the city to match the $25,000 donation.

Council will vote on the matter Sept. 2.

In other matters Tuesday, council approved an ordinance to continue electronic monitoring and outreach detention programs at W.W. Moore Jr. Detention Home. The Department of Juvenile Justice will contribute $118,542 during fiscal years 2009 and 2010; council approved contributing $26,324 during each of those years.

Danville Police Department is asking for approval of a plan to establish a microwave radio communications link between its Jenny Lane tower and the North Caroline Highway Patrol’s Viper Statewide Radio System. The Virginia Department of Emergency Management Grant Program is contributing $64,700 toward the project, leaving $16,175 to be paid by the city.

Council will vote on the proposal at the Sept. 2 meeting.

The Sesquicentennial Committee of the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History has been named Danville’s Official Sesquicentennial Committee. It will work with the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission in planning events to commemorate of the 150th anniversary of Virgnia’s participation in the American Civil War.

Events will span five years, from 2010 through 2015. The commission will hold its 2010 meeting in Danville.

Contact Denice Thibodeau at or (434) 791-7985.