The Patrick County Board of Supervisors meeting was held on Monday, March 8, 2010.
Public Comment Session
Linda Wilson volunteered to replace Betsy Wiles as a representative to the Blue Ridge Library Board. She is retired school teacher. She is from the Smith River District. She was appointed by a unanimous vote by the board.
Other public comments included these subjects: the Mayo River Trail project, Real Estate Sales, building permit fees and grantor tax fees, and twice year billing of real estate taxes.
Emergency Services Notification System
A representative from Global Connect conducted a demonstration of a Internet (web) based system that can notify both residents and County employees of emergencies. It can be used for 6 months on a trial basis at no costs. Steve Allen who arranged this presentation is recommending the County purchase this product. The cost will be $ .55 (cents) per household per year and $1.00 per County employee per year.
Public Hearing On Paving Secondary Roads 6 year Plan
Several residents made public comment supporting paving of roads in their communities. Lisa Hughes of Virginia Department of Transportation answered questions about the paving program Patrick County has 114 miles of unpaved road and only $67,000 of funds to work with. The board of supervisors will consider the list of potential roads to be paved and complete a priority list at next month’s meeting. Ron Knight contended that projects should be priortized based on those with highest traffic count combined with where businesses were on these roads. He has two such roads in his district, Trent Store Lane and Kelly Mill Road which have daily traffic volumes over 200.
U. S. Route 58
County Administrator Jay Scudder shared a letter from the Virginia Department of Transportation, which announced the plan to update environmental studies for the proposed 4-lane improvements to Route 58 between Hillsville and the Town of Stuart. He expects the study to take about 6 months. The County has recently reported to the State on the economic development benefits of this construction project.
Mayo River Trail
Jay Scudder shared a copy of the Resolution by the Town of Stuart on Feb. 17, which was approved unanimously by the Council, that says, “the Town of Stuart is committed to sharing maintenance with the County of Patrick to expeditiously implement Phases I, II, and III of the Mayo River Trail Project, to contribute to any expenses of maintaining such Trail, and toward ensuring that such Trail is of benefit to our citizens for many years to come.� Dr. Lock Boyce contended that this resolution does not obligate the Town of Stuart at all, since no % of support is mentioned.
Deliquent Real Estate Taxes
County Attorney, Alan Black reported that Wednesday’s Enterprise would list the 1st round of deliquent real estate taxes.
Monthly Bills
In approving the monthly bills, claims and transfers, the Board unanimously agreed to not pay a $72,000 bill to Anderson consultants for work on the Mayo River Trail. Their contention is that nothing should be paid on this project to Anderson until all easements were in place. Jay Scudder was in agreement with this.
2010-2011 Budget
Only limited discussion was had on the Budget for the next fiscal year. Further discussions will take place later this month when a public hearing will be conducted on the budget.
Meeting with the School Board
It was announced that there will be a joint meeting tomorrow evening between the Patrick County School Board and the Board of Supervisors.
Reported by: Tom Bishop
