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.

Comments from two citizens

When I read this comment, I was so moved - I don't know who this person is, but I wanted to make sure that others read her comment - and while you are at it - please read the comments that were left on this post - people are in agreement with these comments:

"This is the same problem we ran into about a two years ago. Our problem was simple but important to myself and neighbors. We wrote emails to each of the board and got no reply. We wrote several more times to see if they just never got the emails and still got no reply. We assumed they didn't use the email because they had no access to computers or something was wrong with their system. The problem was eventually taken care of by the good folks in our neighborhood pitching in together and taking care of the situation ourselves. Probably what they were waiting for any way. Incidentally this was before Marshall Ecker's time so perhaps we do have one person who cares on the board and is in this century. Although I wonder as the rest of the board is always after him and never agree with him. Our board is pitiful to say the least. I am an 81 year old women who took classes at DCC several years back to learn how to use computers and to type. I can't do it well and it takes a while as I have arthritis quite badly but I try. The board needs to change and young people who care about their County for real should be on the board. This board only cares about themselves, power,and getting reelected. It is obvious and why our whole country is in the shape it is. I am at the end of my life and am so saddened by what we have become. I love life but sometimes I wished I hadn't lived so long as to see what we have become. I am glad you who ever you are are doing this as I could never make a board meeting do to my health but am still interested in what goes on there. I am not dead yet."

And here is another comment from someone who tried to contact the supervisors via email:

"In response to this post: I sent all supervisors an e-mail on 4/21 requesting their view/opinion on a topic that I feel is important when discussing future revenue for our county. I only received ONE response, the following day, from Mr. Marshall Ecker. No others have bothered to respond. I actually sent this same question to my local town manager and also got NO response. Thank you fine leaders!"

Videos from the Board Meetings

More videos are at www.youtube.com - just key pittsylvaniainformer into the search box on YouTube and you will pull up all the videos. You can subscribe and you will notified by email when new videos are uploaded. The videos aren't "professional" quality, but right now we are just using a "Flip" video recorder, so we do the best we can. We will continue to put some of the videos on this site, but again, you can view them all on YouTube! Happy viewing!

Adjourned Board Meeting, April 21, 2009

First, we would like to urge citizens to attend at least a couple of Board Meetings. Since starting this communication effort, we have found that these meetings are actually interesting in many respects. Last evening, Phillip Lovelace spoke about the iron found in the drinking water pursuant to the uranium core drilling, Deborah Dix and Allen Gross also spoke on related topics. Karen Maute also spoke, however, because Ms. Maute is so soft spoken, we can never get her recorded so that she can be heard. If anyone reads this, please let Karen know that we would be pleased for her to write a synopsis of the issues she spoke on last night, and we will post it on the blog - a couple of paragraphs will be fine.



Nancy Smith reprimanded the Board due to the negligence of conducting Board business in line with Roberts Rules of Order. Mr. Snead and Mr. Ecker actually had the book with them, which was interesting.

A memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Corrections was voted on by the Board, and it was voted to go forward with this. Basically, in plain english, the old Prison Farm has been offered to the Conty by the state, and if the County goes ahead in a timely manner, they will be able to also claim "rights" to the beds, linens, etc. Basically, if the county is going to do anything at all as far as a jail space goes, this is the least expensive route.

Regional One's Contract was voted on and passed, 5 - 2, with Davis and Ingram against. There wasn't a public discussion, so we don't know why they dissented.

Wheeler Baker and Frank Martin from Hargrave Military Academy accepted a resolution from the Board in recognition of HMA's 100 year anniversary.

Then we had the rezoning cases, and this is usually boring - but one interesting topic arose - North American Properties - Coleman Marketplace wanted to rezone in the Sweetgum Lane area of the county from R-1 to RMF (Residential Multi-family). They intend to build housing facilities, with the intention that there will be no subsidized homes involved. With the second phase of the project, a traffic study will be required, but the company has proffered to have it done, at no cost to the county. The residents of the area signed a petition that they had no problems with the multifamily housing in their neighborhood.

Dan Sleeper informed the Board that the Hurt Volunteer Fire Dept. requests a lease on the Wayside Park in Hurt. The county will maintain what is already there; however, if the FD builds something on the property - i.e. a ball diamond - they would be responsible for maintenance on it. The Board unanimously approved.

In new business, a resolution to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and the VDH (Virginia Department of Health) requesting an investigation of the well water problems passed after some resasonable discussion.

The Board voted 4-3 to support Lindsay Bowman with a $500 contribution to support her pageant participation in the Miss VA pageant. Harville, Barber, and Snead voted against the proposal - citing that this should not be funded with county taxpayer money; Mr. Snead said that he made a personal contribution as supervisor from Lindsay's district and he thought that was the better route. I must say that I agreed with them, citing the tight budget right now. However, I did discuss this with Mr. Ecker, and he said that he felt it was the right thing to do, since she was, after all, representing our county. My opinion softened somewaht - BUT, since she is running as Miss Danville Pittsylvania County, shouldn't Danville pony up $500, too?! At the date and time of this meeting, Mr. Harville informed us that the City had contributed $0.

Dan Sleeper explained a Cost Allocation Plan that had a $10K price tag attached to it; however, he did explain that due to the county's use of this plan (which the county has been contracting for since 1979) Pittsylvania County gets back 5 0r 6 times that in federal grant money. Interesting.

The Board discussed the issue of giving Chatham Elementary (with exception of the Registrar's Office) to the Town of Chatham. Mr. Ecker said that there should be a stipulation made that the town can't turn around and sell it - in that case, the county may as well sell it. There is to be a public meeting to discuss this on May 4th, at the Regular Board meeting.

I have a few videos to upload, so check back later!

Send your Supervisor an Email

See how long it takes for your Supervisor to answer your email....the email addresses are below. Don't you think it's time for ALL the Supervisors to be able to work with something as simple and as vital as e mail? Find out if your Supervisor is "techno-savvy."

Coy.Harville@pittgov.org

Marshall.Ecker@pittgov.org

Henry.Davis@pittgov.org

William.Pritchett@pittgov.org

James.Snead@pittgov.org

Tim.Barber@pittgov.org

Fred.Ingram@pittgov.org

Adjourned Meeting, April 21, 2009

The Adjourned BOS meeting will be held at 7:00 pm. Here is the Agenda for the meeting:

http://www.pittgov.org/documents/AGENDAS/2009/April%2021,%202009,%20Adjourned%20Meeting.pdf

Try to be on hand if you are able.

If you would like to see the committee agendas for committees that meet before the Board Meeting, here is the Legislative Committee Agenda:

http://www.pittgov.org/documents/AGENDAS/2009/April%2021,%202009,%20Legislative%20Committee.pdf

And here is the Finance Committee Agenda:

http://www.pittgov.org/documents/AGENDAS/2009/April%2021,%202009,%20Finance%20Committee.pdf

So at least we know what the committees will be discussing to bring before the full board.

Open Forum

The last Poll question showed that 9 out of 10 people would like to attend an open discussion forum with the supervisors. I think it would be a good idea so that all views could be openly discussed. If you would like to ask for an open forum, email the supervisor from your district and ask that one be scheduled. Here are the supervisor email addresses:

Coy.Harville@pittgov.org

Marshall.Ecker@pittgov.org

Henry.Davis@pittgov.org

William.Pritchett@pittgov.org

James.Snead@pittgov.org

Tim.Barber@pittgov.org

Fred.Ingram@pittgov.org

You Tube

Just a note for the "video buffs" - the videos from the meetings are posted on You Tube. All you have to do is go to www.youtube.com and in the search browser, type in PittsylvaniaInformer (all one word) and you will be directed to a page with all the videos. We will probably post videos here from now on and simply put the link on this blog, simply because it's so much quicker to upload more than one video at a time to youtube. We plan to continue to monitor the Board meetings, and try our best to get information on this blog in as timely a manner as possible for us. Thanks to all.

Links to the Board Meeting

Apologies for the lateness of this information....like I've said before, though, we all have day jobs, and lately ours are taking up a lot of time...so it's been difficult to keep up with this blog - but here it some of what we got from the last meeting. The links here will take you to the You Tube site. Give each video some time to "load" and if you're not familiar with You Tube, be sure to click on the arrow to start the video (then wait for it to load and it will then play.)

Marshall Ecker's propopsal to up the litter fines passed. Several citizens spoke on the litter problem in the county.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc8RDAdj6XY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT1HV9XiTbo


Miss Danville Pittsylvania County attended the meeting and spoke to the Board to ask for their support, along with any money they may care to donate to her "run" for Miss Virginia. The Board members fell all over themselves to get a picture with her...it was rather comical.

The Dan River Wildcats received a resolution of commendation from the Board for their successful season.

The meeting, in short, got interesting when the Board members started bickering between themselves in an almost PeeWee Herman way - any moment, I expected to hear "I know you are, but what am I"....

But to get serious, I am providing links to a small portion of the Board activitied during the meeting. To see more videos, go to http://www.youtube/ and do a search on PittsylvaniaInformer to see all the uploaded videos.

Meanwhile, you can check these out....again, we apologize for having to split these up, but we have to limit our video times to under ten minutes to be able to upload.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS6iCOwNdUU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuiEgbl2MaA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqJ-LvmUcrc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ituEEwsWTv8

ASAP

We attended the Board Meeting last evening, and not as many citizens were there, but there was plenty of "excitement." Stay "tuned" to this blog for updates on the happenings!

Tonight!!!!

Don't forget that the Supervisors' Meeting is tonight at 7 pm. Hope to see you there. Get your agenda at the www.pittgov.org site - we have a link to everything you need on the right side of our blog!

You Tube

You can see these videos and more at http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=PittsylvaniaInformer&aq=f

Thanks!

Just a quick "thank you" to those who have shown support for our communication efforts. Keep on passing the link to this blog around - and keep the comments coming. We love them!

The "Other Side of the Story"

As promised, we have some statements from some of the Supervisors from the evening of the Budget Hearing on March 30, 2009. We would like to thank them for taking the time to talk to us about the tax issues.

Mr. Harville spoke to our camera to give his take on some of the issues. Mr. Snead was also kind enough to speak to us and here's what he said...

Mr. Ecker also spoke to us about the budget:

Mr. Davis had this to say:

And finally, Mr. Ingram spoke up during the hearing and had this to say to the audience in defense of the Board having to raise taxes:

We believe in Fairness

It would only be fair to get the Supervisor's take on some of what has been said at these hearings, and we have video of several of the supervisors, including Mr. Ecker, Mr. Harville, Mr. Davis, and Mr. Snead. It takes some time to upload and process the videos, and that is the only reason they aren't on right now, but within the next day or two, you should see this as well, so check back. (We have "day jobs" and have to take care of some of the time-consuming tasks of running this site at night. We hope you understand, and will bear with us, as we learn to run this site efficiently.) Check back tomorrow for words from the Supervisors themselves.