Patrick Board of Supervisor's Meeting September 13-2010
September 13, 2010
The Patrick County Board of Supervisors met on Monday, September 13, 2010 at the County Office building. As reported by Tom Bishop
Board of Supervisors Meeting on September 13, 2010
As reported by Tom Bishop
All members were present except for Ron Knight from the Mayo River District. He was out of town.
Jay Scudder-County Administrator Resigns
At their monthly meeting the Patrick County Board of Supervisors went into Executive Session to discuss personnel matters. At the conclusion of the Executive Session, they came back in session and announced Jay Scudder, County Administrator, had turned in his resignation and by contract had given a 60 day notice and that it may be less than 30 days.
Board Chairman, Karl Weiss reported that this was a total surprise to all the Board members. They had no prior notice of this. Just prior to the meeting, Jay requested they add to the agenda an Executive Session to discuss personnel matters.
Public Comment Period
Danny Foley of the Mayo River District.
He spoke about the Long Range Transportation Plan. He believes that the following projects should be added:
1. Replacing 8 one lane bridges on Pole Bridge Road
2. Abram Penn has a safety issue in a sharp curve
3. Anthony Drive has a sight distance problem and is bad for school busses.
He feels we had a missed opportunity when the Wolf Creek Cherokee tribe sold their property and left town. They had plans to develop a Cherokee center
Walter Scott of Smith River District
He suggested the Board support Sheriff Smith in dealing with those spotlighting deer and firing guns in the night time. The Sheriff needs extra manpower to deal with this criminal activity.
Sheriff Dan Smith made these comments about spotlighting deer:
He told of numerous complaints he has received from residents recently. With the limited budgets he and the Game Warden, Chase Meredith cannot deal with the problem.
He suggested with the expenditure to purchase a mechanical deer, priced at $1400 and a budget of $4000 he could step up efforts to catch spotlighting between now and the end of the year.
Board members suggested that this could be funded with seized weapons and possibly seized vehicles.
No Board Action was taken.
Mark MacDougall Proposal for Water Slide
Mark presented detailed documentation describing a proposal to construct a Water Slide at DeHart Park in Stuart, with rough estimates, and pictured examples and rough drawings.
His contention is that while public funding might not be available donations from businesses and other organizations could be sought out.
Comments from the Board.
While the Board appreciated his efforts on this proposal, no one was willing to pursue this project due to pressing financial needs the County has for:
1. Special needs of Social Services, Sheriff Department and Emergency Services/Fire and Rescue.
2. This project would create staffing requirements, maintenance expense and liability expense the County is not able to fund.
3. Many other pressing priorities need to be worked on such as projects underway, such as the Dan River Trail, and the Skate Board project.
4. The property he proposed to use is owned by Sun Trust Bank. It is not County property.
5. The County is overtaxed now and needs to keep the basic County Services going such as Education, maintenance of infrastructure and other Public Service.
The Board’s conclusion was that this should be done by private enterprise and not as a County government project
Reports by Jay Scudder, County Administrator
He shared a letter from Judge Junius P. Warren about the mold, mildew and dampness in his offices and requested that action be taken to correct the problems.
The issue here is leaks around windows and roof leaks caused by old Air Conditioning units on the roof.
Jay will bring back to the next Board meeting estimates and proposals concerning the A/C units. Repair Cost are expected to be $45,000 or higher.
Jay reported that the TICRC Grant 1727, of the Route 58 Patrick Springs Water and Sewer Expansion Project had been approved by the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification Commission. This included the reallocation of funding in the amount of $261,000 formerly committed to the Patrick Springs project to the Town of Stuart for rerouting of water and sewer lines, near the Stuart Forest Products Plant. This project is considered approved based on the threat to existing employment if immediate action is not taken and given that other funding sources are not available to address the problem.
Revised Board Meeting dates for October and November
The Oct. 11 meeting will be moved to October 18. Due to Oct. 11 being a holiday.
The Nov. 8 meeting will be moved to November 15 due the VACO conference conflict.
Vote was unanimous.
Tom Rose Gives Economic Development Quarterly Report
1. He reported on the detail projects that Tobacco Fund Grants have been awarded to Patrick County amounting to $3,161,013. This list did not include VDOT Enhancement Grants or Tourism Grants.
2. He gave a list of the Top 14 employers in Patrick County, showing the County Schools with 459 employees and Results of Stuart at 350 (when the new round hiring is complete). Results has not reached the 350 mark yet, but when it does it will be the largest public sector employer in Patrick County. Hanesbrands, Inc. currently stands at 240 employees. Stuart Flooring and Blue Ridge Nursing now stands at 300 employees each.
3. He gave a list of the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy Priority Projects (July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010)
4. He handed out copies of the Minutes of Economic Development Authority meetings, from February 18, 2010 to August 12, 2010
5. He reported that the Shell Building used by Results provides $180,000 of revenue per year. Three buildouts have occurred totaling 20,000 square feet. These upgrades have also improved and upgraded the Air Conditioning system.
6. He reported that Aerial Machine’s Stuart plant was now closed. And the Ararat plant is working only a minimum staff. Due to the military cancelling a key project, they have lost 40% of their business. They have until December 31, 2010 to satisfy the performance agreement of the 3 grants received. They have already satisfied Phase 1 and are on their way to satisfy Phase 2. They have lost 100 jobs and are now at 241 employees.
Meeting concluded at approximately 8:06 P. M.
