It’s thanks to the police department, public works and many more who protect, serve, clean up, volunteer and do so much for this thriving community.
Courtesy of the Vinton Messenger
The Town of Vinton employs a robust team of public safety officials and organizations who work day in and day out in service of residents. The town’s public safety operations encompass law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services and public works.
In considering the town’s public safety operations, Pete Peters, town manager, feels Vinton is a safe community.
“I’m very proud of that. It’s something we hear from our businesses and hear from our citizens,” he says. “The fact that we have a good culture for our public safety, I think makes us an attractive place.”
The Vinton Police Department is comprised of 26 sworn officers.
As part of its efforts to build strong connections with the community, the department holds “Pancakes with Police” and “Coffee with Cops” events, which allow residents the opportunity to engage with officers and ask questions.
“Our police department does a really good job of being involved in the community,” Peters says. “They’re obviously there to keep us safe, but they go above and beyond that.”
As a result of the chief’s commitment to making his officers available, Peters explains, many in the community know them by name and view them as neighbors.
“We wouldn’t be able to do our job if it wasn’t for the community helping us out,” Deputy Chief Tim Lawless says.
Courtesy of the Vinton Messenger
William Holland, who handles the department’s community outreach, explains building bonds with the community makes it so that residents aren’t hesitant to call for help if they need it.
The Roanoke County Sheriff’s Office provides school resource officers in Vinton, but the town supplies supplemental community resource officer assistance.
“We have a number of police officers that are very visible in the schools,” he says. The officers do joint presentations with the schools, teach students flag etiquette and hold story time with the students. “We try to have a relationship with those young children so that they know the police are their friends and that the police are there to help. We want them to know they’re a part of the community and that they’re there to protect them.”
Up until 2019, the town and Roanoke County jointly operated fire and emergency services. At that point, the town relinquished its responsibility for the services as part of a revenue share agreement.
The town’s fire and EMS services are now provided by the Roanoke County Fire & Rescue Department, as well as volunteers.
“We’ve had a long relationship of sharing those responsibilities with the county,” Peters says. “Still to this day we provide support to our volunteer emergency services.”
He points to the department’s quick response to a July 2022 fire in the downtown area as proof of the good work the county department does.
“If it wasn’t for the professional and quick response of the fire department, we could have lost more of our downtown. There were no lives lost,” he says. “With the extent of minimizing the property damage, it was the best-case scenario.”
The Vinton First Aid Crew often supplements the county’s efforts. The all-volunteer crew has roughly 45 members who set aside time in their schedules to run emergency medical calls and help neighbors in need.
Chief Chris Sayre joined the crew in 2011 with his mother. “I think giving back to the community is very important. I really enjoy helping people,” he says.
He would ideally like to have more members because the number of those who are available at any given time tends to fluctuate.
“The more people we have, the more shifts we can fill,” he says. The crew currently tries to staff one truck a night. “If we ever get to where we have all of our shifts filled, we can start staffing second trucks.”
Courtesy of the Vinton Messenger
The crew works closely with the Roanoke County department, specifically running calls alongside one another.
The crew’s work extends beyond simply running calls. Its members frequently attend town events upon request. The crew maintains a large presence during the Vinton Dogwood Festival, specifically parking ambulances along the parade route.
The county department is also frequently present at the town’s numerous events. “We certainly appreciate their support,” Peters says.
The Vinton Public Works Department also plays a role in ensuring the town is safe and orderly. The 23 employees who make up the department are responsible for snow removal services for public sidewalks and right of ways, street maintenance, including paving, patching, sidewalks and traffic signals, and stormwater services, including rainwater runoff and curb and gutter maintenance.
“We also have a streetsweeper that is part of our stormwater management because it keeps the streets clean so that when the stormwater leaves the streets it goes into our streams and creeks,” Peters explains. “By having the streetsweeper service, it keeps the streets as clean as possible. When water does run off, it doesn’t contain a lot of oil and other contaminants that might be there otherwise.”
Refuse collection and recycling are housed in the department. “We’re very proud of those services. We want to keep the town looking good,” Peters says.
The town has been working diligently to get caught up on its paving needs. It’s also working on beautification and transportation enhancement projects. The efforts extend to all new traffic signals, landscaping, sidewalk replacement, stormwater infrastructure replacement and downtown façade improvements. Pocket parks are being established in the downtown area.
“We want the town to look nice for our residents and visitors. Some of these public spaces are also meant to provide connections … connections from public amenities and right of ways to make the town more walkable,” Peters says. Part of that includes the upcoming completion of the Tinker Creek Greenway, which will connect the downtown to the greater Roanoke Valley Greenways network.
The Public Works Department is on-site after each town event to restore the streets to pristine condition. “Our public works staff remains late into the night cleaning up the streets and sidewalks,” Peters says. “Often times we can have 5,000 in town for a parade and the next morning you can’t even tell we had anyone there.”
A little more than a year ago, the town transferred ownership and operation of its water and wastewater utility to the Western Virginia Water Authority.
“By transitioning the system to the water authority, it provided us with rate stabilization for our citizens and business owners,” Peters says. The move will allow for greater capital investment in the system’s infrastructure. “It’s going to improve the actual infrastructure that supplies the water and wastewater.”
Valued Volunteerism
Courtesy of the Vinton Messenger
It’s hard to see how Vinton could continue to be as dynamic of a community without the support of its volunteers. They often work tirelessly to contribute to the success of the town’s busy event schedule, ensuring events like the Vinton Dogwood Festival and Mingle at the Market go off without a hitch.
“We work with a lot of volunteer groups in the town,” Peters says. The Vinton Dogwood Festival Committee has been assisting with the festival for more than 70 years by raising funds and organizing activities. The Vinton Area Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors helps organize events like Mingle at the Market. Civic groups like GFWC Woman’s Club of Vinton nd Vinton Breakfast Lions Club assist with fundraising and community service projects. The Lions Club recently raised funds to put in a new bus shelter at the Kroger shopping center. They’re very active in our community. If not for these volunteer groups, our events and activities in the town wouldn’t be as robust.”
One Vinton resident who ensures the community is well informed about what’s going on is Debbie Adams, a contributing writer for The Vinton Messenger. For more than a decade, she has chronicled the activities of the town. She very rarely misses a town event or community meeting.
When she took over writing for the paper, it lacked community content. “I wanted the paper to be all about Vinton,” she says. It didn’t take long for those in the community to start inundating her with news tips. “I always get invited to things. I try to cover the government and all of the organizations so that each issue has a picture of life in Vinton.”
Peters sees Adams as almost an extension of the town staff.
“She does a really good job of covering and promoting our activities,” he says. “A lot of times it’s the result of stories she does that we recruit additional volunteers. She certainly provides awareness of all of the needs and all the opportunities we may have.”
As someone who has a front row seat to the town’s activities, Adams observes that there’s a lot of crossover when it comes to volunteers. “Everyone’s involved with everything. It really is a community,” she says. “Everyone’s part of one big team.”
Executive Director Angie Chewning wholeheartedly agrees. “Everyone is part of one big team, and Debbie is our biggest supporter. I don’t know what our Town would do without her — folks wouldn’t know what’s going on!”