Chamber News

Patrick County Board of Supervisors Meeting-April 11-2011

The following is the results of the Patrick County Board of Supervisors meeting held on April 11, 2011. This is their regular monthly meeting. All members were present.

Board of Supervisors Meeting April 11, 2011 Approval of the 2011-2012 Budget The Supervisors voted unanimously to approve the County Budget as proposed without making any last minute changes. The budget total was $39,114,576. Dr. Lock Boyce made a motion to cease work on the Mayo River Trail, but it failed for lack of a second. He also made a motion to have Economic Development Authority funds to pay for the driveway repairs of $45,000 for the Industrial Park, but he got no second to his motion. Roger Hayden made a motion to have $100,000 be set aside from the Contingency Fund to be used for the Re-assessment in 2014. This motion passed 4-1 with Dr. Boyce voting no. Crystal Harris made a motion to have all agencies receiving County funding to provide the documentation of an audit at the time money is requested. The motion passed unanimously. Communications Tower Ordinance The Supervisors voted unanimously to hold a public hearing on the new Communications Tower Ordinance on May 9 at 6:30pm. Request for Appropriations for Social Services CSA The Supervisors voted unanimously to appropriate $80,000 for Social Services for the Comprehensive Services Act for the period March-June 2011, as proposed by the department Manager Joan Rogers. This covers adult and child protective services. Proclamation Older Americans Month The Supervisors voted unanimously to designate May 2011 as Older Americans Month. This year’s theme is Older Americans: Connecting the Community. Patrick County is reported to have 5,500 citizens aged 60 years or older. Resolution to Install Children’s Playing Signs on VFW Road The Supervisors unanimously approved the installation of “Children Playing� signs on VFW Road, contingent upon VDOT review and approval. Bills, Claims and Appropriations The Supervisors voted unanimously to approve Bills, Claims and Appropriations without discussion. Public Hearing on the Operation of County Pound There were no public comments offered. The Supervisors voted 3-2 to adopt a new and revised Ordinance to regulate the operation of the county animal pound, spay and neuter policies and animal adoptions. Voting no was Karl Weiss from the Blue Ridge District and Crystal Harris from the Smith River District. Essentially, the changes require dog or cat owners to pay a reclaim fee of $25 for the release those in custody of the pound. If the dog has a license and is tagged and has recent rabies shots, there is no reclaim fee. This new ordinance abolished the rebating the deposit to veterinarians performing spay and neutering services for animals in the pound. Line of Duty Act. The State has extended the time Counties have to make a decision to sign up for this insurance until June 30. If agreed to by the County, the cost will be approximately $45,000 per year. There is no private insurance available at this point. The County has the option of setting up their on account and making routine contributions to it. Public Hearing – 6 Year Plan for Secondary Roads Construction The following persons spoke in favor of various roads they wished to put on the 6 year plan: Tammy L Goins – Dan River District – Old Orchard Loop Karl Goins – Dan River District – Old Orchard Loop Mike Gravely – Mayo River District – Tatum Lane James Wood – Blue Ridge District – Red Rough Road Joe Dalton – Blue Ridge District – Split Rail Dr. Vergie Penn- Mayo River District – Tatum Lane During the hearing, Lisa Hughes of VDOT explained that they had only $76,000 allocated per year, due to reduced budgets. At this point, Trents Store Road and Kelly Mill Road have been funded and will be completed this year. Next on the priority list is Red Rough Rd. and Tatum Lane. Next priority: The Board voted to add Old Orchard Loop on a 4-1 vote. Crystal Harris voted no. Next Priority: The Board voted to add Split Rail Dr. on a 5-0 vote. Next Priority: The Board voted to add Puppy Creek Rd. on a 4-1 vote with Roger Hayden voting no. Ms. Hughes reported 3 bridge replacement projects using box culverts and they are: 1. Woods Gap, 2. S. Mayo Dr. and 3. Mills Rd. Each of these will take about 2 weeks to complete. These are funded with the Maintenance Budget. The 6 year road construction plan was passed unanimously. Public Hearing on Redistricting Patrick County No one from the public offered any comments. Explanation was given that 2 districts had changes and they were Mayo River and Peters Creek. After moving some of the population from Mayo River to Peters Creek that made Mayo River has 3786 people and Peters Creek 3771 people. The redistricting plan was adopted unanimously. Revenue Sharing – Town of Stuart With a unanimous vote they approved the project funding for $21,500 funding with a 50% match by the Town for cross walks and beautification project, with no cost to the County. These funds come from VDOT Revenue Sharing Funds. Audit The Supervisors discussed openly the Audit Report. Roger Hayden spent considerable time reviewing and discussing the total amount of debt that had been incurred with the school construction project, including debt service that totals approximately $65 million to be repaid. Included in this debt report is the Lease Purchase Agreement which carries a 7.5% interest rate and amounts to $3,258,000 over and above the school construction debt. Executive Session The Supervisors went into Executive Session at 9:35pm to discuss personnel matters. They came back in regular session at 9:40pm to name Mara Bouvier, the new General Manager at Primland, as an At-Large Member of the Tourism Advisory Committee, replacing Brooks Bradbury who no longer works for Primland. Next Meeting The next Board of Supervisors meeting will be on May 9 at 6:00pm News report prepared by Tom Bishop