Mayor Kawanha Persinger discussed new Public Works employee, Ernie Shinault, during Thursday night's town council meeting.

Iron Gate Council Discusses New Town Clerk, Resignation of Neil Hardesty, and Other Business During September Meeting By Jennifer Bailey Staff Writer Iron Gate, VA (Sept. 25, 2025)— Tonight, during their regularly scheduled September meeting, the town council in Iron Gate welcomed new town clerk Megan Clinebell to their staff. Clinebell replaces former town clerk Ashley Prior who resigned officially on July 21st of this year due to health issues. Additionally, Vice-Mayor Brandon Marshall read a very brief resignation letter from former councilman Neil Hardesty that said: "On this date, August the 25th, 2025, I, Neil Hardesty, resign my seat on town council of Iron Gate, Virginia, due to personal reasons." Readers may recall that Hardesty's wife, Georgeanna, passed suddenly in a car accident on July 22. "I think most of residents here in town know what the personal reasons are," Mayor Kawahna Persinger said Thursday evening prior to council's unanimous vote to accept Hardesty's resignation. Apart from Clinebell's first meeting this evening and the exit of Neil Hardesty, town council was given a brief presentation by Heather Krauss, Right of Way Manager at Mastec representing Dominion Energy, at the beginning of Thursday night's meeting. "We've been working on this project for a while now trying to work to redo the radial feed there that is going to feed the water tower. We'd like to underground it," Krauss said. "A lot of the outages that have happened and the data over the past, let's say, five, ten years, have come from issues stemming from the line that's running down the mountain there on the parcel above it." A radial feed is an uncomplicated, one-way power distribution system that carries power from a single source to multiple sources. The project put forth by Krauss would create underground power lines to prevent trees from falling on them, thus improving the functionality of the water tower and eliminating outages altogether. However, there are three property owners with whom cooperation would be needed as well some other red tape and paperwork to get through before the project becomes a reality. The presentation to council was the first step in terms of getting the ball rolling on the project. Mayor Persinger also announced a new public works employee who will be working alongside Junior named Ernie Shinault. According to Persinger, Shinault previously lived in the town of Iron Gate, so some residents may recognize him when they see him. The Iron Gate Work Session was scheduled for October 20th at 7:00 p.m. and the October town council meeting will be held on October 30th at 7:00 p.m.

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