Tuesday's Meeting (May 19)

Well, I'm telling you guys, you really ought to try and get out to these things...I would never have thought it could get so "intriguing" - is that the word I should use? Hmmm.

Anyway, the public hearing began with Phillip Lovelace, George Stanhope, Allan Gross and Richard Shumate speaking against the Uranium mining and drilling. Allan Gross made the point that while the Uranium Mining may produce 300 to 500 jobs, the farmers in the county provide many jobs. The four dairy farms that were recognized the week before provided 60 jobs and there are 1,300 farms in the county! If the farms only produced one job each, that's far more than the mining would produce locally; and once the mining comes in and buyers find out that the farms are in the "uranium district" no one will want to buy the produce. Good point.

On to the public hearing about the Chatham Elementary School. Mary Cathering Plaster literally pleaded with the Board to carefully consider their decision. She said that the school could be refurbished much more economically than building a new facility, and what a wonderful structure it could be for housing county offices. What a tribute it would be to the historical value of the building.

Others spoke as well on the Chatham Elementary School, some wanting it given to the town of Chatham, some wanting the county to keep in and use it, and some that just wanted to make sure that whether the county or town had it, that it would be fixed up and used. There was some worry that the Town intended to simply sell it, if they received it, and put the money into the town coffers. Marshall Ecker said that he wanted a stipulation saying that if the Town didn't use the building, they could not sell it - it would revert to back to the county.

Marshall Ecker motioned to keep the building; Hank Davis agreed, adding that the county should work together with the Town to make the best use out of the building.

Well, Mr. Snead (I think) made a substitute motion to give the building to Chatham with no strings attached. Tim Barber spoke up, agreeing, saying it was going to cost 5 million to refurbish the school. Mr. Snead said he understood it was 8 million. Mr Ecker said that Mr. Hawker said it would cost 2 1/2 million to occupy the building and the part of those larger figures included fixing the Moses building and the jail. He again voiced the opinion that if given to the Town, there should be a 'No Sale' stipulation. He said taxpayers paid for that school, and it shouldn't be sold and the town take all the money. He said that it was in the citizens best interest to renovate the school, and he didn't care who did it, as long as it got done....if the the town can take the building and renovate it, then yes, give it to them, but not without stipulations.

Ecker then made a third substitute motion to table the issue until Chatham decided if they wanted to "take on" responsiblity for the building. Well, here we go folks -

Vote on tabling issue - 4 to 3. I'll let you figure it out.

Then came the vote on the second substitute motion to just give the school away, with no stipulations - Vote: 5 - 2. Ingram likes to be on the winning side in the end.

Well, then the circus began. A map that had been given to the Board well in advanced were obviously not paid attention to until that evening. It was a map of a local subdivision and the land around it...the people in the subdivision wanted an ordinance that would require that pet owners would keep their pets from running loose.

I know I'm not supposed to voice a comment, but I can't help it - here's my take:

Business: Local citizens need an ordinance to keep dogs from running loose in your subdivision:
Answer: OK

Instead, the board discussed it longer then they discussed the School, or it certianly seemed like it...it was absolutely ridiculous....they split hairs over something that's common sense and make snap judgements on matters that will affect the whole county for years. They hummed and hawed for over 20 minutes - and here's the answer: OK.

Then there was discussion on the naming of the Social Services Solarium. Mr. Pritchett had a statement about it, but I can't tell you what he said or what he wants the place named. I sit on the front row, and I literally couldn't understand a word he said. Not a single word.

The Board voted 6-1 to fund Regional One again this year. Surprisingly, Mr. Ecker was the "1" - and my thought is this: that end of the county can also use Altavista's Life Saving Crew. Ecker doesn't realize how critical it is in other parts of the county to have a back up. I have the greatest respect for all our county volunteers - but they are volunteers....they are not usually ready at the Squad building to go in a moments notice; many of them are at work and have to leave and go to the squad building before they can get their vehicle on the road....and when they are on call, who fills in if another call comes in....We need Regional One. It's critical to saving lives.

Mr. Sleeper made a request to the Board to fill a vacated position in the IT Department. Mr. Ecker asked if they would have to lift the hiring freeze to do so; Mr. Harville said "No, it was up to the discretion of the Board" - or something like that.

The Recreation Board wants $12,500 from the County that they will match, to pay for a comprehensive plan of recreation for the county. There was a 10 day layover on that - whatever that means.....I really don't know, and you can't talk to the Board to ask a question.

Mr. Sleeper also informed the Board that they had to re-advertise the Budget; the original wasn't clear. He also told the Board that the Utility contract at the Gretna Park was going to cost $191,430.96.

The Board set the first Board Meeting in July (the first Monday) as a Public Hearing on the Gretna Boundary Adjustment.

And there you have it....keep in mind that all this is from a regular citizen just like you - I can tell you I don't have all the details in here, because I can't get it all down....I'm just doing the best I can to let you know in simple, plain words what I perceive is going on.

We will not be at the next meeting, because we will actually be on Star TV -Talk TV that night, doing a show with Jessica Robinson about the blog. If you have cable, it's Channel 17 at 7:30.

Board Meeting tonight

Come out and be part of your county government. 7:00 pm in the Courtroom in the building where you pay your taxes....go up to the second floor and you can't miss it. Of course, if you just can't make it, we'll do our best to give you a summary of the "action".... the meeting agenda link is on the right hand menu of this page.....just scroll down and until you see the link.

Economic Development Director?

If you click on the link we have posted to go to the site to get meeting agendas, you will see that there is an "Adjourned Meeting" on Friday at noon to discuss what I am thinking is the hiring of a new ecnomic development director. While it is certainly true that the County Administrator and Planner don't have time to do this job properly, there is a hiring freeze that I don't think has been lifted. Whassup?? Oh and by the way, you and I can't go, because they have "closed" the meeting.

Board Meeting May 4 2009

Once again, the Board Meeting did not disappoint us - lots of discussion on issues that will affect us for years to come. However, with that said, let me first congratulate Jim Davis, our
Emergency Management Director, for producing a VOIP system that will make Pittsylvania County one of the first localities in the U. S. to use that technology. Thank you Jim!

The most discussed issues of the evening were the Amendment to the County Budget and the resolution to restructure the county's bond debt. Davenport & Company proposed that we refinance the debt over a period of years lasting through 2017...the end results would still be the same - taxes will be raised to 12 or 13 cents - and it was going to cost the county a bundle to refinance. What this would allow, however, was a plan that would basically not hit us too hard for a couple of years, and give everyone time to "get their head around the tax raises." I'm sure this is over-simplifying matters, but you get the idea.

Mr. Davis proposed a substitute motion to take $900K out of the county surplus this year and not have to borrow - at least for this year. Mr. Ecker and Mr. Ingram agreed. In fact, Mr. Ingram pleaded with his fellow board members to see the common sense in this motion. Mr. Snead, Mr. Barber and Mr. Pritchett all agreed however, that it was foolhardy to "dip into the surplus"....that being compared to a savings that you should leave alone. What it all boils down to is the county owes $70M in school bond debt, which was voted on by the majority of voters. So...the county has to figure out a way to pay that debt. It's that simple - just like anyone that borrows - we have to pay back what we borrow - there is simply a disagreement between board members on what is the better way to go about this. So, in the end, the decision was split 3 to 3 and when time came to vote - Mr. Harville cast the deciding vote to restructure the debt.

In other business, the neighborhood of Huckleberry Hills received support from the supervisors to have a "leash law" in their neighborhood, so that one neighbor's many dogs would not be allowed to roam and bother the neighborhood.

A resolution in the form of beautiful plaques was presented to representatives from Hammock Dairy, Mountain View Dairy, Motley Dairy and Vanderhyde Dairy in the formation of Cobblestone Milk Cooperative. Cobblestone recognized these dairies for the finest quality milk products, comparable to any in the U. S. Mr. Roger Jefferson thanked the Board for supporting agricultural growth in Pittsylvania County; due to this support and the formation of Cobblestone, $25M has been generated in taxable revenue, and 60 additional jobs have been created.

Now, here's a little view of the meeting:

Coming out - in a manner of speaking!

I understand that some of our readers are suspicious of who we are and why we started this post. By all means, we are not trying to work "undercover" - and in fact sit on the front row of the Board meetings with a video camera, trying to get a few videos and notes from the meetings. Our names are Debbie Sparks and Ross Johnson. Ross and I were both members of the same team when we attended Neighborhood Leadership Institute. Our idea for a project then was a communications effort, but at the time, we only laid the groundwork for a project and did not carry it out. We stayed in touch, however, because I do advertising design for his business - and the more that we talked about what was happening in Pittsylvania County, the more we thought that it would be a good idea to create a grassroots communication initiative within the county.

First of all, we decided that if we didn't take an active part in our county, we had no right to complain....that's when we decided to attend Board meetings. Then we thought that we would provide a way for people to get a mild overview of the Board meetings. Many people just aren't able to get out, and a large segment of the community (myself included) didn't feel like going to a meeting after working all day...So we thought if we created this blog, it might actually get people more interested in their county government, and eventually give them a place to "speak" their minds.

I write most of the blog, while Ross Johnson teams up with me at the meetings to "explain" some of the things I don't understand in the meetings, as well as be the "point man" in talking with people about issues and working to get the blog "out there." We both take a few videos to post to the site or to YouTube. We are working, quite openly, to bring this blog to you, purely as two people interested in doing something for county citizens....it's a very, very small beginning, but at least it's a beginning.

Our intent is to stay "middle of the road" and simply give the facts with no bias, regardless of what we personally feel. We shoot videos of people talking, and we report on the Board votes and findings....it's not indepth - just a quick overview - but probably all most people want to hear.

Truthfully, this whole blog probably started out because we were very discouraged with what seemed to be happening at the Board meetings - the continual 4 -3 splits, and the alledged "behind the scenes deals" and other opaque Board rituals...

But we also knew that if we went in with our own agenda, it would be of no real value at all. We need to keep very middle of the road with what we tell the citizens, with no leaning one way or the other, so that they will know that what we say on this blog is true to the best of our knowledge and ability. We report it like we see it - as Ross says, "It is what it is - now YOU decide."

Board Meeting

Come out to support your county on Monday night, May 4th at 7:00 pm. In the right hand-menu on this page, you'll see a link to the Board Agendas.