To remedy that, council last Thursday voted unanimously to pursue funding from an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant to update the plan.

According to town manager Patrick Frere, the plan was last updated by his company, Greenbranch Consulting, in November 2000. The plan should be updated and rewritten every five years, Frere told the council.

Planning commission chair Ginger Philbrick approached Frere several weeks ago about the possibility of updating the comprehensive plan.

According to Frere, the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy will receive $9.17 million in block grants from the Federal Department of Energy as part of the American Recovery Act. That money will be dispersed to localities by the Commonwealth’s 21 planning district commissions.

Development of a comprehensive plan is an acceptable use of the grant, said Frere.

“We would have to have an energy efficiency element in the town’s comprehensive plan,” said Frere.

Councilman Richard Davis made the motion for Frere to pursue funding in the amount of $40,000. The funding would be spread out over two fiscal years with the plan’s completion in the fall of 2010.

In other business, council decided to put on hold a decision to buy a new copier for the town hall and decided not to repaint the parking lot at the post office at this time.