Patrick County Board of Supervisors conducted a work session on Monday evening at the County Administrative offices. This report was prepared by Tom Bishop
News report
Patrick County Board of Supervisors Work Session, May 22, 2009
A public hearing was conducted on the Tobacco Regional Opportunity Fund Grant for upgrading equipment and expediting services at the Pioneer Hospital in Stuart. A hearing was necessary due to the grant amount of $440,000 being 10% of the County budget. After public comment was received the Board voted to go forward with the grant process and the vote was unanimous.
John Tompkins, Interim Manager of Pioneer Hospital gave comments on the progress at the hospital. He reported that:
• The patient count is now up to 10 per day.
• Four new scopes have been purchased at a cost of $20,000 each
• The hospital employment is now up to 45 full time and 10-20 part time.
• They are now doing minor surgery, such as scopes. In the near future they will do surgeries such as gall bladder, appendectomy and colon procedures
• They are now handling physical therapy cases
• A recruitment of medical doctors is underway
• The grant money will be used to upgrade equipment, site services and building modifications, telephone system, improved TV service, redecorating, and ultra sound.
Dr. Lock Boyce requested a letter be written to our 5 elected officials at the State and Federal level, asking for a diversion of project funds to important local projects such as the County Jail. The four projects he named for diversion of funds were the Mayo River Trail, Rocky Knob Project, the Jacks Creek Covered Bridge project and the Stuart Downtown Amphitheatre. No action was taken on this request.
The board unanimously voted to write a letter of thanks to all 5 elected officials, Congressman Boucher, Senators Webb and Warner, Sen. Reynolds and Del. Ward Armstrong for all their help on local projects such as the hospital, water and sewer, new patrol cars, and Dan River Trail. They want the letter to further state our dire need of additional funds for the jail project, unfunded mandates from the State and Federal level, and other much needed projects.
County Attorney, Alan Black, explained the need for petitions on the "Liquor By The Drink" Referendum. Petitions must be signed by 10% of the eligible registered voters in each district. Petitioners are needed to gather signatures and be able to swear on an oath that they saw the persons sign the petition. The petition will be available in the County Administrative office for people to come in and sign.
County resident Bob Knight has written a letter to the County requesting that Ararat Highway (Rt. 773) be renamed for Lt. Levi Barnard to keep his memory alive. Lt. Barnard was killed recently in Iraq. Since this a primary road, it will require VDOT approval. Jay Scudder will research this and report back at a later meeting.
The architect on the County Jail project has reported that the county will need to do a “Value Management Analysis� and hire an engineer to determine the design efficiency, determine if it meets State requirements and that the cost is reasonable. This will cost in the range of $30,000-50,000.
