Although the Town of Vinton nestles tight against the east
flank of its larger neighbor, Roanoke,
village residents are quick to point out the distinctly different identity of their
7,900-population burgh: Vinton is a small town with low crime, locally-owned businesses,
and mountain views.
Vinton is also a proactive, progressive town, according the Public Works
Director Mike Kennedy. Vinton is one of the few small towns in the state to have three
household hazardous waste collection days and probably the only one with an Adopt-a-Truck
program, which allows residents to pile their discards into a town truck parked at their
home over the weekend.
Because of Vinton’s concern about meeting resident’s future
needs, much of the work Anderson & Associates
performs as the town’s general services engineer consultant involves analyzing the
capacity and condition of water and sewer facilities. A&A is finishing up a condition
assessment of the town’s two sewage-pumping stations and starting to analyze the
capacity of the town’s sewage collection lines. The next step will be to upgrade
both, probably extending the SCADA (Supervisory
Control And Data Acquisition) computerized control system for monitoring infrastructure,
Kennedy says.
Vinton’s
water and sewer connection charges for new service have just been raised for the first
time in almost a decade. A rate study is underway to determine equitable new rates for all
consumers of these services in 2007 and beyond.
Besides supplying the town, Vinton’s water and sewer system serves
residents of fast-growing East Roanoke County.
The town and county are developing a 100-acre tract here as the Vinton Business Center. In
turn, Roanoke County provides schools, courts, libraries, social services, and parks and
recreation to Vinton residents.
"Vinton is one of the best kept secrets in the valley,"
Kennedy says. "It’s a nice place to live with dedicated public works employees
who are really concerned with the quality of service they provide."
A native of Worchester, Mass.,
Kennedy has two degrees in civil engineering, a bachelor’s from the University
of Massachusetts and a master’s from the University
of Washington-Seattle. He spent 22 years in the U.S.
Navy Civil Engineer Corps, retiring as Commander, and another 10 years in the
field’s private sector in the D.C. metropolitan area. Three years ago, he followed
his wife-to-be to western Virginia. He and his wife now live in Lexington, Va., where his main leisure
activities are reading nonfiction, maintaining the house, woodworking, and commuting to
Vinton. &
Although the 
