Iron Gate Citizen Expresses Numerous Concerns During Council Meeting By Jennifer Bailey Staff Writer Iron Gate, VA (Mar. 27, 2025) — During Thursday night's regular meeting in the town of Iron Gate, Randy Unroe was the only citizen who signed up to speak during public comments. Unfortunately, most of his tenor was anything but positive. Unroe first addressed the town's financial reports. Evidently, he'd requested to review them, though it was unclear when he made the request, or which month(s) were depicted in the printed copy provided by Town Clerk Ashley Prior. There was a little bit of back and forth pertaining to whether or not he'd be able to view the report at Town Hall to which Mayor Kawahna Persinger assured him that the reports are always ready on Monday before the monthly town council meetings —held every 4th Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. at Iron Gate Town Hall— when Prior prepares the packages. Unroe appeared a bit heated at times, at one point asserting, "You can't hide this [financial reports]" and alleged that council and/or Persinger "don't want nobody to see it." However, the mayor assured Unroe that they were, in fact, not hiding it and would make sure it was easily accessible. Randy Unroe also expressed concerns over the town clerk's hours after it was announced that she and Mayor Persinger were dealing with health issues that was forcing them to only have the office open three days a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with the same hours. This, of course, following vote by council which later went through. Both Mayor Persinger and Town Clerk Prior assured meeting-goers that they would still be in the office on the first of the month —to ensure everyone in the town receives their water bill— and the 21st —the last day to pay the water bill without penalty. Unroe's concern was that Prior was on salary and would continue to be paid the same amount, despite her hours being cut. However, Persinger assured Unroe that Prior's pay was based solely on hours. Unroe also expressed concerns over "the lawsuit," which, presumably, was in reference to the Jennifer Simpson case, though Simpson's name was not mentioned. However, Simpson's case was discussed during the work session held on March 17th, and, tonight, Persinger referenced $38,000 which was due to "the client" and "her attorney's fees." Readers may recall that the town of Iron Gate is indebted to Simpson $38,000 following her lawsuit against the town over a busted pipe. The town also owes Simpson's lawyers but are hoping they can negotiate them down. As it stands, the town of Iron Gate owes over $300,000 as a result of the Simpson case. This evening, the discussion between Persinger and Unroe centered on concerns that the town of Iron Gate may eventually get absorbed into Alleghany County if the Simpson case remains unresolved and/or their financial woes continue. "From what I've been told," said Persinger, "the ARPA money we have, once it runs through the complete cycle, that's what we're going to use to pay. If there is a balance left, then that will have to divided among the residents down here because the judge specified that's what we owe."

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