Public services director lays out long-term infrastructure, water and transit goals for Winchester City planning committee

Perry Asnaught, Winchester City’s public services director, on Tuesday presented a set of strategic goals to the Planning Committee that focused on long-term infrastructure needs, water reliability and service improvements.

Asnaught told the committee the city must sustain investment in aging systems. "Infrastructure will always be an important part of what the city does," he said, noting the city still operates many older assets. He said the department will update the sidewalk master plan next year to reflect new priorities and that staff is implementing an asset-management software system that the team expects to be using in 2026 to log maintenance histories and better prioritize work.

The presentation highlighted the water system as a major priority. Asnaught said the city has "the 3rd oldest water mains in The United States" and urged a multi-decade replacement effort. "The new ductile iron water mains that we put in the ground, we expect to last for at least 100 years," he said, and the department is targeting replacement of remaining cast-iron mains over roughly the next 20 to 25 years.

On emergency supply, Asnaught said the city is considering a reservoir to store water for extreme drought or contamination events and is coordinating with Frederick Water so the city could purchase water in an emergency if necessary. He described the reservoir as expensive and long-term but said it could prove decisive in avoiding future outages.

The department also plans a capital rebuild of the City Yards equipment maintenance garage, built in 1986, to modernize fleet maintenance capacity. Asnaught said staff is pursuing Federal Transit Administration and state funding to support the project and that a modern shop would improve turnaround times for police vehicles, trash trucks and school buses. He cautioned some specialized apparatus (for example, ladder-truck components) still require manufacturer-certified work not currently done in-house.

Stormwater work and regulatory compliance were also included in the goals. "We have implemented the stormwater utility," Asnaught said, highlighting the North Cameron project and saying ongoing work is needed to maintain compliance with the city's storm water discharge permit.

On traffic, Asnaught proposed continuing capital projects to improve flow and safety and flagged the raised crosswalk/"speed table" program as effective; he said staff has a list of more than 75 candidate locations and will ask the council in January whether to continue the program. Committee members voiced support, with one member saying the speed tables have reduced speeds and improved quality of life.

Transit improvements were presented as a success: Asnaught said a new bus added to the WinReady service since July has helped increase ridership. A committee member said the service benefits students and residents with special needs by improving access to jobs and services.

Recycling and solid-waste goals include exploring single-stream recycling. Asnaught said contamination in separated streams has increased and that the local recycling processor has warned it may begin charging for single-stream processing; the department would like to move to single-stream roll-out bins if feasible.

A committee member raised public-communication ideas such as a searchable Q&A or FAQ database; Asnaught said Public Services is "very involved" in communication but indicated communications staff handle much of the digital outreach.

Procedural business included approval of minutes from October 6 and November 3 (voice vote recorded as "Aye" in the transcript; no roll-call counts provided). The meeting concluded after brief holiday-parade reminders and an adjournment motion that carried on voice vote.

The committee did not adopt new ordinances or binding decisions during the session; the presentation framed department priorities for future council consideration and potential capital planning.