Board of Supervisors Public Hearing Notice   9/12/2023

This is our 12th meeting of Nelson County Board of Supervisors.

If you all would please rise and join us in silence.

Thank you.

Mr. Barton, would you lead us in the pledge, please?

I pledge allegiance to the flag

All right, first up, we will start with our public comment section.

If you would, please come to the podium, state your name and your address.

You'll be given three minutes to speak.

If you're speaking on behalf of a group, you'll have five minutes to speak.

And Mr. Reed will be our timekeeper.

And first up is Martin King here.

Yes, you were first up.

I'm sorry, you're absolutely right.

Susan.

Thank you.

Sorry about that.

Glenn is a graduate of James Madison University and holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in Geography with concentration in Applied Geographic Information Science.

working for the City of Harrisonburg.

Welcome.

Thank you, Susan.

Welcome, Glenn.

We're glad to have you.

Thank you.

No, I don't blame you.

If you don't mind, we've got two handouts that we can bring forward to you.

I'm Marta Kane.

I'm the CEO with Java and Tish Blackwell is our Director of Philanthropy and Communications and our Nelson liaison.

I mainly

The first thing we wanted to do was thank you all so very much for your support in the fiscal year 24 budget.

We really appreciate it and we're very excited about the new year.

I wanted to let you know we have two new people who are going to be working and supporting Nelson.

LaRonda Gray is already at the community center.

As you know, Danny moved to Utah, so we were happy to have him there, but family was a better support in Utah.

So LaRonda is now going to be at the community center.

She's been there for about a month.

So please stop by on Monday or Tuesday.

I understand John has gone back to being able to support two days a week, so we really appreciate that too.

And then Dorothy Wilson is the new aging service coordinator.

and she is currently at Hillsdale getting trained and oriented and learning how to do the job and of course do the IT things that you put all of our data in.

But she will soon be located out at the Nelson Center and then she'll probably be doing some things at Tuckahoe at least once a month.

So wanted to tell you about that.

I'm going to leave the annual report for TISH, but I just wanted to say the other handout, the impact stories,

are kind of the things that get at the individual, the things that our actual clients and members talk about how they feel, what their situation was, and how the program felt to them.

And I just want to remind you that pretty soon is Medicare Part D open enrollment, so we will be having, we'll be all set up to, we have

So we should be able to do even more appointments.

Hi, thank you for having us today.

I just want to tell you a little bit about the annual report that you have in front of you that is from our last fiscal year.

We were able to provide some insightful outcomes from the benefits of our programs and services from the previous fiscal year, including ways that we were able to increase socialization and connecting for older adults.

with our community senior centers and our At Home with Java program, allowing seniors to connect virtually who may be home now.

Also with our direct support services, last year we were really excited to see we had a 98% satisfaction rate with callers who called in to our senior helpline seeking help.

And there's some statistics in there in terms of those who will refer to our aging services coordinators, helping to get additional supports that they may need along with making decisions to help them live an even better life.

Nutrition, of course, is always a focal point for us, so you'll find some information in there on our home delivered meals program.

Satisfaction, not only with the taste and selection of meals, but the dependable delivery that seniors are able to have.

Advocacy, of course, is another one of our strong areas.

Marta mentioned the insurance counseling program, which is always a huge one for us.

You'll see in the report that last year, our insurance counseling program was able to save clients $1.6 million in their plans for insurance as well as prescriptions.

And of course our JRAC, which is our Java Respite and Enrichment Centers.

We've had overwhelming satisfaction rates with not only the environment and safety, but how it addresses the needs for respite for caregivers.

And we continue to see those census numbers go up this year as well.

Thank you both very much.

Thank you.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Patty Avalon.

I live at 791 Front Street in Lovingston.

And I'm here simply because I wanted to put something on record that I'm the acting vice president of the Livingston Village Association.

And on the August 8th meeting, it was listed

that the Lovingston Village Association had a funding request, which we did not.

We think there was a clerical error that somebody had put the Village Association name there asking for funding, and we did not ask for it, approve it, nor receive it.

So that's basically what I'm here to say.

I think it was probably for the Village of Lovingston and someone communicated the association.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Ken Stevens.

I live at 364 Finley Gap Drive, Regina.

I'm opposed to the Finley Gap Park project for the following reasons.

One, the Sturt property is located in the variable remote part of Nelson County.

Number two, the most important reason is the only access to this property is Finley Gap Drive.

Finley Gap Drive.

This current state, Finley Cap Drive, can't support any traffic safely.

The single lane, dirt and gravel road use primarily for logging operations and hunters.

There are a few turnabouts, but if two vehicles meet, someone will have to back up until they reach you find enough place.

It's approximately 3.8 miles long, connecting Norwood Road to Keats Church Road.

There are four places where creeks cross the road.

In any rain, any repairs to these places will get washed away.

In this current state, rain is thinning out roads worse than rain.

There are many areas where both sides of the road are washed out and very deep gullies are forming.

If a vehicle drops a wheel into one of these, there might be a good chance that it might not be able to get out.

I'm almost afraid to take my old wheel up there and drop a wheel.

Self-service in this area is very limited.

I have the horizon, and most of the time when I'm up there, I can't get any service.

So how can anyone get help if they need it?

Though some major improvements can be made to family gap drive, I can't see anyone willing to tackle this road to go to a new park, hiking trail, when there are many other ones in the county with better and safer access and known views.

Understand that VDOT is going to take over the improvements, or be asked to take over the improvements at Finley Gap.

It's my understanding that VDOT plans their road work many years in advance, assuming four to five year budget process.

So are we looking to three to five years or more before this even gets to the planning stage?

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Matthew Stevens.

My parents are residents of 364 Finley Gap Drive.

Our property has roughly a quarter mile Finley Gap access.

It's a wide and thinly gapped drive to accommodate paving and handle buses as Nelson County is going to declare it the name of the section of our property.

This road is basically out in the middle of nowhere inside a large hunting area where if paved during my teenage years we would search out

24x7, with no monitoring, no gate, no locks, as well with no surveillance method to protect this protected area.

Speaking on that, the community in a meeting that was held by Valerie Walker, I wasn't expecting all five supervisors to be there, but I did expect the South

I'm an active member of two local clubs that reside back in the same area trying to understand why people would want to come back to a

My name is William Pearcy, 608 Fortune's Cove.

I wanted first to address Jesse since he's not here so maybe I should exit.

We've got D. Dyer represented here today, Edward Savatt.

Three months back, I think we had a VDOT represented here and Jesse posted something on Facebook allowing us to make comments or suggestions where we needed some improvements on the road.

That seemed to go over pretty good.

I mean, it was quite a bit of participation.

A lot of folks posted things on there.

Anyway, I'm just curious to know why we didn't continue something like that and Mr. Brown made a comment

and not only for the VDOT comments but any other suggestions that folks might want to put on there.

I think a lot of folks get involved in social media nowadays, particularly Facebook.

The next comment again was to VDOT and Mr. Brown being here.

There's a cautionary sign on 29 if you're traveling south.

Approaching the Mountain Cove, 718 is the number.

And it tells you that the road's gonna curve to the left and then straighten back up.

But it doesn't make any note of the fact that there's a right turn at Mountain Cove Road that's 718.

So you just kind of fly over that hill, which is halfway blind anyway, can't see it.

but folks that are slowing down to make that right turn they more almost get run over before they get off the road but that would be my suggestion is to get that cautionary sign to show that there's also a turn there.

The other point I can add is back to the VDOT I just said

We request a fast track maybe the next 13 to 30 years or so.

Look at 29 at Cahill and 86 East.

I have an overpass there.

It's been having that ARCA idea since that got shut down.

Still have all the traffic coming through there, but we just don't have a solution to what we can do with it.

And I believe that the overpass would be the best idea.

and the ideal situation with maybe an underpass with what I got 30 seconds.

I want to welcome Glenn, he's already gone, but wondered if his position in IT would also include this

Yes, thank you.

My name is Reverend James Rose.

I was out at 22, 25 young years out of the way down there.

Perhaps you know a member of the board, accountant, ship, Candice McGarry.

I've come to this afternoon on behalf of the Gladstone Senior Center.

First, we wanted to thank the board for their support of our center.

We wanted to thank the county for their support of the computer to our meals for our seniors.

At this time, our senior receives $2,000 each quarter.

Forty years that amount was based on how many members that Alexander had.

Forty years also, as you know, the economy has increased and the price of food items have also increased.

At this time, our membership has increased from eight members, and we now have 40 members, and we continue to get members all the time.

We are requesting

for an increase of food from $2,000 a quarter to $5,000 a quarter.

We had a cook, but she no longer cooked for the center.

We are looking for a cook.

As seniors, many of us, some of the members are on fixed income.

Any support that you can give our center would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you, members of the Glass Home Senior Center.

We invite you to come have a meal with us.

God bless you.

Good afternoon.

I'm Zalu Nenri Walker.

I stand today to address to the board about the Strutt Park project, which is located on Finnegan Avenue in Norwood.

On August 17, 2023, residents of South District met with Nelson County Director of Parks and Recreation, Jerry West, to hear and learn about the Strutt Park project.

And we sincerely thank Mr. West for his time, his input, and enlightening information he provided on August 17.

Prior to the August 17th and continuing even now, efforts initiated by an independent and a private natural environmental group has worked for several years to study and establish a nature reserve on the struck property.

We sincerely thank this group for its diligent efforts, cataloging and documenting natural aspects of the struck property.

This struck property of approximately 344 acres

was deeded to Nelson County in 2013.

Nelson County Board of Supervisors are overseers of the deeded property responsible for the property's use as dictated in the deed, which stipulates four goals for the property.

And the goals are very succinct, to recognize the natural environment, protect the county's things and resources, promote the diversity of every recreational opportunity,

and Maintain Rural Character of Nelson County.

With current planning and adoption of the Nelson County 2042 comprehensive plan, which is a guideline for the next 20 years, residents of the South District, significantly residents of Norwood Road and Fennagap Road, therefore ask that the Board of Supervisors create a Board of Supervisors appointed committee to oversee and work along

with Parks and Recreation Director, Jerry West, on the Storch Park project as it evolves over the coming 20 years.

There is no real oversight over this project, although decisions are being made from meeting to meeting, and I come to these meetings every month, and I was shocked to even hear about this project in August, where there have been decisions made and funds allocated or not allocated.

We ask therefore that this committee's work be relatable to the comprehensive plan of 2042.

Therefore, the one that's being planned laid out now, therefore a part of Nelson's future growth as stipulated and big idea or planning principles number four, I'm quoting from the comprehensive plan in draft.

Those things that Nelson County as a community cares the most about protect and connect to our rural environment

and that is section four of a part of the four big plans for the next 20 years.

The committee that we are proposing should be composed of two residents of the south district, a board of supervisor member appointed and that person doesn't have to be of the south district and two members of the nature reserve committee.

That would be two to one equals five members of a committee manageable to handle and that it will represent

the community of not just Norwood, but of Nelson County, a parent in South District, a transparent connection that strengthens county relationships and builds trust between and within the county.

And you can hear that two gentlemen spoke ahead of me, the Stevens.

We don't agree on this, but we are neighbors.

We are friends.

We stand shoulder to shoulder in this project.

We are an example of what people can do

OK. Mr. Barton, we thank you for your work that you've done so far.

And we ask that you continue to work with this and that when we get the new elected person, and we're going to be electing someone in 77 days, that no decisions be made, anything more be made with this committee or this

I live on 1032 Crawford View Road.

I just want to bring attention to the Rockfish Elementary School with a new dump that was put down there.

They put an impact of 600 and some more people coming a day on that road.

And then since they went ahead and replaced the bridge, then at the entranceway of the road to the dump site, they ended up going away to my residence.

The speed bump then it don't work no more because they done fixed the road after they put the bridge in.

The traffic's still speeding.

And the road is terrible.

And every time they ain't going to fix it,

Reed, I didn't know they were going to fix the potholes down there, I could take them all ready to pull up.

My concern of it is, since the speed bump ain't working, I've heard the school heading and fixing the road down there.

Because every time I go in, they run you in the ditch down there, and then when you run you in your ditch, you run into potholes.

And it ain't no sense in the county if that little stretch of road down there can't be improved since they put the dumpster down there, and six or seven hundred people a day coming down and using that road.

That's my concern.

And the other concern is to bring it to the board again.

Somebody should bring it up.

I think we go to Augusta County over there.

They got a law when you haul trash down the road.

It's always if you got a pickup truck, you got to put a net on top of it.

It ought to be a law that Nelson County Board of Supervisors or somebody ought to petition in the county.

Then if you haul the trash down the road, you ought to be a net on it, not to be fined because it's too much trash on the side of the road.

They know when they get down out the grasses on the side of the road.

They don't even come back and pick it up.

It's over water.

Nelson County, I've been from here to Alaska and come back and every fine on the road up there is $2,000 for litter, automatic $2,000.

You don't see trash in other states.

It is what you see in Virginia and Kentucky and coming back because we ain't got separate laws.

And I think in Nelson County, at least would it help if we amend

A debt going back in these trucks or trailers.

If you haul them in cars, there's no problem.

But we need to pass a law.

Augusta County's got a law.

We can pass a law.

And another thing is, it ain't hype again, but the other day I come through Rockfish School, Rachel, and it's good for the sheriff to sit down there and probably flash in the lights.

I love it.

Dr. Trellis coming through that line like a bloody aircraft.

I just want to say every VDOT worker I've seen over there has got a yellow and a blue blinking light.

And if that blue light don't get your attention, nothing will.

And I said on 151 at the blinking light stand there, it's already, we should take the little bub and blink it in and put a blue light on it.

I'd like to see somebody amend that before something happens in on the musical up here.

And also the high school needs to be

I know, like, they ain't got none, but I'd like to see somebody pull a light there and put a blue light on it just to give people's attention.

Thank you.

Thank you all for having me.

So I went to the meeting at the school last night, and a few things were told, said among y'all, Mr. Parr.

I kind of just sat back and listened, and I disagree with most of them.

You know, my whole thing is my life, I try to live within my means.

And if taxpayers' money isn't enough to support y'all's projects, we shouldn't be going into debt.

This is a county.

For a county to go into debt, it just blows my mind.

I don't understand, you know, $80 million for this, this, and this.

School was just built.

I didn't even do the renovations then, when they had the budget then.

And the courthouse needs more money.

The roads are falling to pieces.

People don't have money for food, you know, and y'all are gonna raise taxes because y'all need repairs done and this done and a new school's being talked about and this little trail y'all wanna build.

I don't know, I don't really understand.

I don't, you know, why y'all don't wanna go into debt?

That just blows my mind.

I think that y'all should be more transparent about what y'all trying to do and, you know, if you want money,

There's money to be made with drunk drivers.

I mean, we got every other turn in 151 as a brewery, you know, and that needs to stop too.

How many more brewers you want to pack in there?

Fingers and this and that.

Everything was alcohol last night.

I mean, come on.

That's my piece.

Thank you.

All right, then we will close the public comment section, and we will move on to the consent agenda.

Are there any items in the consent agenda that any board member needs to pull out separately?

If not, I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented.

I move we approve the consent agenda as presented.

Second.

We'll have a vote by acclamation.

All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Chair votes aye.

Consent agenda is approved.

Next, we have presentations.

Is David here?

Oh, there he is.

Sorry.

Didn't see you.

First up, we have TJPDC 2024 draft legislative agenda.

Hello, sir.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.

Thanks so much for your time on your agenda this afternoon and your good day.

I just wanted to briefly talk about two things with you.

I just want to give you a little update on state budget.

Now that it appears we're going to have one,

and then also talk a little bit about the landscape that we're going to be looking at heading into the 2024 General Assembly session and then address what's on your screen with regards to the legislative priorities.

So yeah, it does look like the General Assembly's action last week to adopt amendments to the fiscal year 24, current fiscal year budget, six months late, or better late than never I guess.

There will be

A Rebudget for 2024.

It's on the governor's desk.

He has until Friday in order to take action on it.

Two themes, I guess, coming out of those amendments is they were adopted.

One is tax relief.

The other is some investment in a few high priority programs.

Actually, you probably heard about there's gonna be some one-time rebates going back to single and joint filers probably sometime this fall.

There's gonna be a slight bump up in the

Standard Deduction for filing for 2023 and then a couple of other smaller adjustments as well after tax relief.

Public education, one of the big winners in terms of the investments with some flexible money coming back for localities and school divisions for adjusting the learning loss, literacy, some infrastructure needs.

There's also some investments in water quality, some investments in mental health

as well as some additional investments in site acquisition.

The state can add grants and grants to the counties.

The revenues I wanted to talk about just for a minute as we are moving forward.

Over the remainder of the fiscal year, the public has continued to increase at the state level, though not as much as we've seen in the past several months.

There will be a lot of resources, I think, available for Governor Youngkin to work with as he's preparing

his budget for the following two fiscal years, 25 and 26.

In fact, his secretary of finance told the General Assembly's money committees last month that he's gonna set aside about $2 billion in preparation for his budget, looking for some additional tax relief and some additional investments in my priority programs.

So that process is underway.

As you all start your budgeting process for the next fiscal year,

It's going to be a different General Assembly in 2024 primarily due to redistricting and then a host of retirements and

legislators running for other office.

Particularly, it's going to be a lot of impact in the Senate where you're going to be seeing the loss of a lot of long-time legislators and they're going to be taking hundreds and hundreds of years of institutional knowledge with them when they retire.

Senate Finance Committee is one of the key committees in the Senate.

It deals with both revenue and budget matters.

Sixteen member committee, ten of those folks are not going to be there next year.

In the House, probably more of the rank and file members are the ones that are going to be leading leadership.

These current leadership seems to be fairly intact.

And the House Appropriations Committee is not seeing a lot of change.

The two committees that deal with local government issues, local government, House, County, cities, and towns, likewise, about a third of the members of each of those committees are going to not be there this coming session.

About a third of the General Assembly overall is going to see a change.

Likewise in Nelson County, you all will have two new legislators that will be representing you, one new council member.

Actually, I'll take it back.

You may have one current member, Senator Gaines, is running, representing Nelson County and representing Nelson County.

But a lot of new faces, not really sure what to expect.

from these new legislators.

I think, as usual, it seems like local governments end up having to play a lot of defense when it comes to bills that are introduced, and we'd be happy to be doing that as well.

Let me quickly just turn to legislative priorities for the coming session.

Which one on the screen that was in your packet are the three priorities that were included in the regional legislative program for this past General Assembly session.

Public education funding has been a long-standing position in the region, and I don't see that changing any time soon.

There may be some additional focus on public education funding at the state level, given the daylight report that came out back in July that talked about other areas where the state has been underfunding K-12 education.

The budgets and funding priority is where we stick positions related to

increased funding for localities that are implementing state programs at the local level, providing that local service delivery.

We also stated the opposition to unfunded mandates.

And then broadband has certainly been a priority, not only in Nelson County, but across the region and beyond, really the entire state in recent years.

And so we're expecting, we want to continue to advocate for state support, state support of federal dollars

I have budgets and funding there on the page.

One thing I wanted to mention that I didn't get a minute to go.

One of the other good things, I think, came out of the budget amendments that were adopted by the General Assembly last week, specific to Nelson Counties.

Something was a specific request of this board, but there was about $200,000 included for the Nelson Heritage Center in the current fiscal year.

That's a good thing.

I'm certainly looking for any comments or suggestions you all may have or reactions to the current priorities as it relates to bringing forward a revised legislative program to you in November.

Certainly the work that this board and your administration has already done with regard to the private police forces and eligibility for line of duty act benefits is something certainly that will be added to the program and I'm expressing support for that change.

I'd just like to thank David for the work that he does on behalf of TJPDC.

TJPDC just completed its draft strategic plan, and of all the services that TJPDC provides, and they are many, legislative

Appreciate it.

Absolutely.

Thank you very much.

Any other questions, comments?

Not?

No, you need to head out.

Thank you.

Next up, we have VDOT report.

Good afternoon, board.

Just have a few things to report.

I don't know if any of you have been up on the northbound lane of, excuse me, the southbound lane of 49, just north of Woodsville.

We had a high crash rate area up there that we addressed a few years ago with some high friction pavement.

That's kind of temporary.

If you've been up there lately,

We put out some additional high-friction pavement up there that's going to be very nice and reduce hydroplaning and skidding when the road gets wet.

So that's a good safety feature.

I submitted three locations as part of additional contracting.

We've got all three of them in my area, which is Nelson, Ann, Amherst, and Kendall County.

That was good.

A concern from a previous concern, some shoulder repairs on 56th, I think they had been made with some big drop-offs over there that had just been completed.

We have done, we accomplished something we hadn't been done in quite a while.

We completely ditched and machined the shoulders on Route 6 going up the mountain.

That has been a problem we didn't want to do for quite some time.

We got that done.

Our rural-rusted program, we are back on Jacks Hill with our contractor, hoping to finish that up soon.

We did have to pull our hard-working contractors into Campbell County.

There's a flood work over there.

I did see some mowing going on with our two lane primaries, so hopefully I know we're mowing those now.

And also the secondary mowing,

We use their, this mowing on something they're insisting was a new contractor we had.

We properized that and it appears I think he should be finished up in Nelson County but if he's not he's very close.

It looks like that's that's working well.

A few other things that have not, that's still outstanding

I know the board wrote the concern at 29th and Sandridge to 24th at the animal shelter, I guess is what you call them.

We have not completed that, but we have not forgotten about it.

That is in Dutch Creek.

I think that came from the board.

That really did it great.

I think the little grant, I think we've been up there, but I'm not 100% sure, but we're gonna follow up on

I don't know Mr. Cook.

I don't see Mr. Cook here, Chief Cook here.

The U-turn sign south of Shady's.

You know, we are going to enlarge that U-turn sign, but I see it hasn't been done yet.

That sign is most likely on order, so hopefully that'll come up when that'll be put up as soon as possible before we get that sign.

Other than that, I don't have a whole lot of other to report.

I know we had some concerns about the sidewalks here in Lovingston.

I think we have weeded those and done a great job on that.

As far as doing incidental concrete repairs, I am looking to get some official funding to do some of the repairs on the sidewalks where there may be uneven surfaces

I don't think it's a lot up there because we've been improving on that for the last 10 years.

So we're going to take a good inventory and make any invisible repairs up there.

Hopefully we will get some sidewalk money for that type of work in addition to our normal allocations, maintenance allocations.

Other than that, I heard a couple of comments about Family Gap.

It's my understanding that I have not been through Family Gap since Mr. Reed, you and I went up there, but I was told that our state forces have been working out there to make that more passable and get it in better shape.

Not saying that it's complete or it ain't great.

That looks like a lot of work.

We made a lot of work, a lot of improvement to stabilize the surface, improve the drainage, and a lot of that we could do.

We just, but it's my understanding we've been up there quite a bit since Mr. Reed, you and I have been up there, have not come up with a good fix for the string boards.

I thought I was on to a couple of things, but I haven't gotten those worked out.

But at the least we can, you know, our environmental people, they will let us put some natural rock and make those more passable.

So that is, I don't know if that's happened or if it will happen, but it should happen.

Great.

Thank you, sir.

Anybody have any comments, questions?

Well, 29 and it's in my primaries.

Total secondary cut.

Yeah, I would just go with that.

Well, I don't know if they finished it.

I assume they have finished, but they were supposed to cut them all.

And if you find out, Barton, if they haven't been cut or I would appreciate

Well, you know, I just happened to go up to, which is not my district, but I happened to go up to Davis Creek.

No, they may not be finished yet, but I was thinking they were finished.

Does anybody live in Davis Creek?

It drops out all the way in here in the road.

How do you make these private firms doing the job?

We ride behind them, check behind them.

Anything else?

Do you know where VDOT's role and the Verizon Wireless Tower and Jonesboro, do you know if there's anything going on there?

My understanding that part of the delay on that tower is a VDOT permit holding things up.

Do you know anything about that or is that just hearsay?

I don't know why we'd be holding up on it.

All we would issue would be a permit for service entrance or something.

I'll ask, but I'm not aware of anything, Mr. Porter.

When I was told that I thought the same thing and I know there was a delay on the Piney River Tower and that situation was a part of that VDOT issue but that was different and that's been done and that I just got a message from Verizon that that has been an antenna has been installed and they're just waiting on fire but I was just curious about it.

And you did make some notes on the public comments that were made.

Yes, I've got to fill it out.

At Red Oak School or Greenfield?

Hey, Will, if you all have any other comments for VDOT, if you all could meet him out in the hall, we're going to move on with the next agenda item.

Thank you, sir.

All right, next we're going to move on to new and unfinished business.

As Mr. Parr noted, our 2023-58 is to propose a change of the regular meeting from November 14 to November 16.

This is due to the conflict with the board's attendance of the BACO conference, which runs through November 14.

And that is 14.

Anybody have any conflicts with moving it from the 14th to the 16th?

All right.

So moved.

All right.

Any discussion?

Hearing none, we'll have a vote by acclamation.

Chair votes aye.

Resolution passes.

Thank you.

This resolution is required, it's a governing body letter of support basically, for a final submission of a transportation alternatives program grant funding through the Virginia Department of Transportation.

The Board had previously authorized the submittal of an FY 25-26 Transportation Alternative Program grant funding pre-application for further funding in the Gladstone D-3 relocation and restoration project.

This received an initial funding award in September of 2022.

The pre-application was screened in the submittal of a final application due October 2nd, and as I noted, requires a governing body letter of support.

Just some background.

As a reminder, the initial funding award occurred in September of 2022.

The county signed off on the grant agreement in May of 23 and returned it to VDOT for its execution.

Between May of 23 and August of 23, VDOT and the Federal Highway Administration performed further review of the grant and determined that there were multiple elements of the project and budget estimate that were not eligible expenditures within the grant parameters.

The primary one of these ineligible expenditures being the relocation of the depot building.

They have related to county staff and Friends of Gladstone Depot representatives that because this is funded in the category of historic preservation and rehabilitation of a historic transportation facility, that transportation alternative funds cannot be used to relocate the historic transportation building to either another alignment on or near the current property

or to another property because the historic property is directly tied to the land where it was originally built.

They also advised that in the event that TA funds could not be used for relocation of the depot, relocating the historic transportation structure would potentially make the building not historic anymore if moved from its original location and would jeopardize its eligibility for TA funds to support otherwise eligible historic preservation activities.

Those were direct quotes from

They did indicate there could be some caveats to the second issue depending on circumstances that would have to be worked through.

They also advised that they did not believe the project could be completed within the four-year window allowed in the initial grant and they recommended the initial grant award be cancelled and the county proceed with the total project application in this round for FY 25-26.

Submitting for up to the maximum project cap

for federal funding of $2.5 million, or we could consider applying for the total project in the next cycle in 27-28.

VDOT indicated they would like to review the full budget for the project in order to provide guidance about which expenditures would not be eligible for TA grant fund reimbursement.

And these are, like I said, generally related to the relocation and anything that falls outside of the historic preservation rehabilitation activities.

Friends of Gladstone and their consultant, Coleman Adams, are evaluating these expenditures for provision of VDOT for this review.

County staff also met with Ms. Joanne Ascher, who is here today, from the Friends of Gladstone and Ms. Sanchez, to discuss the feasibility of the project moving forward, given that the relocation of the depot would have to be paid for with different funding, with a different funding source, and that moving it may render it ineligible for future TA grant funding.

Staff has followed up with VDOT to get clarification on several questions that are aimed to help Friends of Gladstone make a decision as to whether or not they would like to proceed with the grant.

Should the group decide to proceed, staff will work with VDOT and FHWA, Friends of Gladstone Depot, and the TJPDC between now and the grant submission deadline to rework the grant application for eligible project expenditures.

We're recommending an adoption of a proposed resolution, 2023-59, just so that it's available for final grants in the middle of October 2nd deadline.

The Board could consider deferring consideration of this resolution until the continued meeting on September 28th, if you'd prefer to wait until we get some further follow-up from VDOT and FHWA.

But right now, the proposed resolution provides endorsement of the Gladstone Depot project up to a maximum of $2.5 million in federal transportation alternative grant funds for which the maximum local share would be $625,000.

Ms. Atcher's here if you have any questions for Friends of Gladstone in terms of what they're thinking and

Would you like to make any comments or come on up if you do?

Well, we have been waiting for clarification from VDOT and we've been waiting for that outside several emails since August 18th.

and we have gotten no response.

When we started this project in 2017, we had a mission and we had two things in that mission.

There was to save the building because it is a historic building and also to use it as a community center for our senior citizens.

And now it looks like due to the changes, that's not going to be able

That's not going to happen.

And so we're kind of, we're just in limbo until we get a little bit more clarification.

I would suggest waiting until the September 28th meeting.

We can talk a little bit further and I need to go before our board and decide whether we're going to move forward with this grant or we do have a plan B.

That

How it'll work, but we have a plan, so it's not what we would hope for.

And I hate to see that building go down, because it's a building that's in good shape, but yeah, it's just not what I have.

Federal funds were cut, and regulations were changed, so.

We got to the finish line, and we changed the rules.

So I'm going to be talking to my board this weekend, and then we'll come to that September 28th.

And maybe we'll know a little bit more.

OK. All right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Well, you know, the decision was based on moving the building to another fee, which is hard to accept.

I mean, people have done so much work that the location that we're going to move it to is part of the grandson rail yard.

And so I have given that information to VDOT.

But the idea of moving the building along becomes historical.

It's really difficult to accept, but you know, it's not like she said, it's not time to give up yet.

It sounds like you need to get really involved.

What?

I say we postpone action on this until the next meeting unless there's any opposition from the retro board.

Let's move on to the next item.

Thank you.

Thank you, Joanne.

Keep us updated.

We'll talk to you soon.

Good luck.

All right.

OK, this is the second Tap Rank application that was screened in by VDOT to go to the final submission process.

This is for the Lovingston Front Street Sidewalk Improvement Project.

and this also requires a governing body letter of support.

The final application is also, like the other one, due October 2nd, 2023.

As a reminder, this application is for widening of sidewalks on the west side of Front Street between Main Street and Peter Drive in order to better meet accessibility standards.

Curve ramps with the technical warning services would be installed and curb extensions and bump outs would be constructed at future crosswalk

Additional work includes replacing driveway ramps that don't meet ADA standards and removal of utility poles from the sidewalk area so they are unobstructed.

PJPBC is currently working with VDOT staff to update the budget estimate numbers for the final applications in the middle.

No, there's no disadvantage.

I just know that this one is very close to Chairman Rutherford's heart.

Right.

And I think it'd be nice just to put, just hold off on this one until he's here to vote on it.

We don't, it's not going to hurt anything to not act today.

Thank you.

I believe Ms. Bryant is here.

She's our circuit court clerk and is working with the Nelson County Drug Court.

She's requesting that the board provide either monetary funding in the drug court budget or for gift cards or for purchase of gift cards as incentives to participants in the county's drug court program.

There are currently two participants enrolled.

The recommended action by staff would be to authorize a nominal budgetary contribution to the drug court budget for this purpose.

You could either use non-occurring contingency or our direct opioid abatement funds, which this would be an eligible use of.

I think you've done a very good job.

Thank you all for having us today.

I know you all were well aware, Mr. Reed has attended several of our meetings, as has Ms. Spivey, that this is something new here, something new for the Corps.

Newford Commonwealth Office, and several other entities.

And we are just asking if you would share in rewarding these folks for their wishing to make changes in their lives that will probably impact them forever.

And that's what we hope.

So we appreciate anything you can do to assist.

I was thinking maybe $1,000.

They are used to purchase gift cards in $10 and $15 increments.

They could be to Subway, they could be gas cards.

Just to reward them if they need all the criteria when they show up, their negative drug screen, they do all the necessary items that they need to do.

It's sort of a reward program that they're able to choose a little token of

Appreciation for them doing what they need to do.

Thank you.

You're asking for $1000?

Yes, sir.

That's like a couple days in jail, right?

I think it makes sense.

Right, we currently have about $48,000 that we've received directly through opioid abatement settlement funds from the national level.

We're using some of those funds to pay some local expenses related to the drug court grant.

However, there is, you know, enough available to provide the funding for the gift cards in that pot of money.

All right, so what would the board like to do?

We have a motion and a second.

Any discussion?

All right.

Yes.

Mr. Parr?

Yes.

All right.

Thank you all very much.

Thank you.

We do have Ms. Dana Campbell here from the alumni chapter to also present and answer any questions you may have.

But just to summarize, the Nelson FFA alumni chapter is requesting funding for high school FFA teams to travel to two national FFA competitions involving four students at each competition, one in September and one in November.

The cost for a student is $1,000.

Full funding for both of these competitions and all the students would be $8,000.

However, the chapter is requesting any support the board is willing to give.

Now I'm not saying that she has anything to add there.

And we have four students traveling to Massachusetts and just coming in again to compete in a contest there.

Awesome.

I know they will, as always, represent us well.

So, yeah.

What is the pleasure of the board?

I was looking at it.

I know we've got a total request or total expense coming up of $8,000.

Right.

Yeah.

Several funding sources for that.

I mean, we all think $2,000.

1,000 per student is the cost, and it's a total of $8,000.

I believe we did it at four.

Yeah, I think it's a great idea.

Thank you, Mr. Harvey, for committing the motion.

Then I would second it.

All right, so we have a motion in the second that we fund $4,000 for the FFA Alumni Chapter funding request to send students to compete in national competitions.

Any discussion?

Yes.

Mr. Harvey?

Yes.

Congratulations.

Thank you so much.

And I will say we certainly enjoy when I know this is the alumni chapter requesting the funds, but we certainly enjoy when those competitors show up and their blue corduroy and we wish they could have been here today.

I understand.

Come back and brag.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

All right.

I'm going to bring up the original resolutions here that were adopted on June 13, 2023.

We had R2023-40 was the budget adoption resolution, and the R2023-41 was the appropriation of funds.

In these resolutions, the total FY24 budgeted amount was $93,052,046.

However, during our annual FY23 year end and subsequent FY24 beginning year financial process in August, our staff discovered a clerical error in the general fund total as presented in those resolutions that affected the overall adopted and appropriated budget for FY24.

The correct FY24 budget adoption and appropriation total should be $95,163,565.

Let's see here.

This general fund number here, about $48 million, should have also contained this $2.1 million for the Department of Social Services or VPA Fund.

So staff consulted with the county attorney and our auditors on how to effect this correction.

They recommended that staff follow the initial budget adoption and appropriation procedures in accordance with 15.2 2506 of the Code of Virginia requiring a public hearing.

All right.

Any questions or comments from the board?

So the error was we needed to include the $2.1 million that was budgeted within the general fund to do transfer to the BPA fund.

And that amount was not included in the general fund total.

So there is no new money being

The money was already there.

What you have to do in these resolutions is include

All of your funds that you're transferring to in the main general fund budget number, plus list them individually.

So what happened was the EPA fund was listed individually, but it was not included in the total general fund amount as it should have been.

Linda's also here.

She might have a better explanation than me.

The Board, when we went through all of the budgeting processes leading up to the Board approving the budget,

And it did include the $2.1 million for the BPA fund.

In transferring that total over to the resolution, I omitted including the $2.1 million in the general fund budget as a transfer item.

And that's why it does not increase the bottom line of what we're actually going to expend.

So right now, this is just an authorization for the public hearing on this matter so that we can make these corrections.

So our auditors and county attorney are satisfied with

I'd like to move that we adopt resolution R2023-61, Nelson County Board of Supervisors authorization for a public hearing, certain correct fiscal year 24 budget adoption and appropriation resolutions.

All right, we have a motion and a second.

Any discussion?

Mr. Harvey?

Yes.

Mr. Barton?

Yes.

Mr. Reed?

Yes.

Yes.

Very good.

Thank you very much.

So we'll have a public hearing on that on October 10th.

All right, next, another public hearing.

Let's see.

Yes, for FY24 budget amendment for school construction funds, R-2023-62.

I'll give a little background on this if you don't mind.

On March 28 to 23, the Board of Supervisors voted to provide a Letter of Financial Commitment for the School Division's School Construction Assistance Program grant application.

That letter pledged the Board's financial support in the form of payment of debt service related financing to fund and propose Nelson County High School renovation.

The school division was awarded the 10% grant at a special meeting of the Department of Education Board on May 11th in the amount of $2,451,703.

This was communicated to supervisors via email the same day, and the initial notification from the State Department of Education was dated June 21st, 23.

County and school division staff met and discussed the project status, and they are currently in negotiations with an architectural firm for ADE Services,

related to the renovation.

The grant funds must be contractually obligated by November 2023, and they are working towards meeting this deadline.

They anticipate using only these grant funds in FY24 with the project financing and majority of expenditures expected to occur in FY25.

Staff will be in consultation with the schools and Davenport, our financial advisors, on our project financing options and timeline in the near future.

The proposed FY 23-24 budget amendment related to this provides for a supplemental appropriation of school construction assistance program grant funds as requested by the school division.

This request is in the amount again of $2,451,703 which pursuant to the Code of Virginia section 15.2-2507

This amount exceeds the statutory limit in that code section of 1% of the total expenditure shown in our currently adopted budget that can be approved without first holding a public hearing.

All right.

Does that mean that we have to spend this much money?

I mean, that was the commitment the board made in the letter provided to the school division for the grant application.

It was approximately $24 million.

$24 million, that doesn't have any time frame for commitment.

It's just the $2.4 million in grant funds.

that they're receiving they have to have those obligated by November of this year and they're going to get those monies up front is my understanding from the Department of Education and therefore they'll get them in FY24 we need to amend our FY24 budget to accommodate receipt and expenditure of those funds and that amount for 2.4 million exceeds our 1% threshold

of our expenditure budget that we can appropriate without a public hearing.

If it just becomes $30 million, then...

If it becomes $30 million...

You can go either way.

But right now, we have to deal with the $2.4 million in state funds for the grant.

And that's a known number, but the actual total number of debt for the total project is currently unknown.

But for today, we're basically reaffirming our commitment to the number we previously committed in order to get this.

I'm just wondering if there is a change in the positive, which is certainly likely to happen if it would be possible to occur.

I see what you're saying, but I also understand from the school division that

You know, they're under a time crunch to get these funds obligated, and I think it would help them to have the funds appropriated, you know, to attain that goal.

I agree with you.

Sure.

I agree.

from the board.

This is just an authorization for public hearing.

It's not the decision side of making the budget.

Yes, sir.

Do we have a second?

A second.

All right, so we have a motion and a second authorizing the power high school renovation and the high school was not renovated.

It kind of got lipstick on a pig when the middle school construction was done and all that, but

Back then, the high school basically just got some windows and a few minor things here and there.

I mean, the flooring and the wall tiles and all of that is still the same stuff that you went to high school with when you were in high school.

So this is a renovation project that's long overdue.

Anyway, not long now.

All right.

Next, we have a special use permit

No.

All right, good afternoon.

As we said, we had a public hearing for this back in August 8, 2023.

I'm not sure if that was my fault for that.

So at that meeting, the board requested that we come up with an alternative suggestion for the condition that limited the number of events.

Here's some more clarification on events that was asked for.

Exempt events.

include agritourism activities that by virtue of the number of attendees, size and location of property or hours of conduct do not cause any substantial impact in the health, safety, or general welfare of the public.

So many of the events that the applicants have described would already fall under the exempt events, the smaller events that they were talking about, like the lavender associated events.

Category one and category two temporary events, those are events that are open to the public,

Those are currently not limited in number but are required to be applied for individually and they would still need to be applied for individually if the special use permit is approved but with the African state they do not really intend to have any category one, category two temporary event permits.

Temporary social events do not require a permit but we do need to

They do need to have a special use permit if they wish to have more than 12 social temporary events or if they wish to hold the social temporary events in the structure.

While the recommendation that I have is not the only option, it does aim to support you in making your recommendation or decision.

The board has emphasized the importance of avoiding ambiguity in the position and has requested a comprehensive approach that clearly addresses the various types of events.

So the condition that we have in the Planning Commission was that the number of events shall be limited to 150 per year.

What I am proposing is that events with fewer than 75 attendees shall not be limited.

Again, this is mostly events that are going to be exempt anyway.

Events with between 76 and 125 attendees will be limited to 75 events per year.

and then events between 126 and 150 attendees will be limited to 25 events per year.

This would apply to the social temporary events and category one and category two events.

Just for our behalf, can you

Yeah, so category one and category two events, again, the applicants here do not really intend on having any of those events, but those are events that are open to the public, whether a wedding or a reunion or something private, something where tickets are sold, similar to a concert, something like that.

Category one events are under 500 attendees, and then category two events are anywhere between 500 and 10,000 attendees.

These events currently, they're currently able to do these events on this property just not in the structure and they are required to be applied for individually.

They're reviewed by VDOT, Health Department, the Sheriff's Department, State Police, and EMS.

This would limit the amount that they can apply for based on the number of attendees, but they would still need to apply for each of these individually and they would individually get reviews from all of those agencies.

So the difference between category one and category two is?

Category one is anywhere up to 500 attendees.

Well, yeah, so category two events of over 500 people

That's already self-limiting because, as they stated, they don't have the capacity to support more than 150 attendees, and that's going to be one of the conditions.

The other two conditions that we had were that the maximum number of attendees at any event shall not exceed 150, and that amplified music and sound shall end at 1030 p.m.

Yes, yes.

This is just to replace that one condition.

The other two conditions are still recommended.

Yeah, keeping numbers one and two.

Yeah.

And this was direct result of comments that were made at the last meeting and suggestions on some sort of compromise.

And in review, I agree this seems to be a good compromise from what was proposed originally.

I just think that you've done a really good job at some clear limits on things that I think are necessary in this case.

The numbers involved are a little subjective, certainly, and there's nothing we can look at that really says what those numbers should actually be except that

Yeah, exactly.

Like I said, on the property now, as an A-1 property, they are allowed to apply for as many Category 1 and Category 2 temporary events that they want.

They just can't happen in the structure.

Social temporary events are currently limited to 12 per year and can't happen in the structure.

The special use permit would allow them to have events in the structure

as well as more than 12 social temporary events per year.

They would be allowed to have up to 25 or between 126 and 150 and up to 75 that are received, 76 and 125.

But this would not allow them to do any more category one and category two events than they would already be allowed to do.

Yes, they would say with a special use permit, a special use permit would stay with the land.

Any other questions, comments?

I do have one quick question.

How is traffic directed coming off of 151 if you're coming?

And I'm just curious.

I didn't know if you were further on.

It just would be nice if in your literature, if you could try to direct people to turn at Ski Barn rather than turning at Spruce Creek end of the loop.

It's just a safer turn.

So I don't know if you ever give directions, but that would be nice.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I'll just note that the language of my memo, I sent it out for cleaning it up, that those wills in that statement should be shalls.

That's my aggression.

All right, we have a motion.

Any discussion?

Mr. Parf?

Yes.

Mr. Reed?

Mr. Parf?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Alright.

So, we are at a point of going into reports, appointments, directives, and correspondence.

Do we want to take a break?

Yes, we're going to take a short break and we'll reconvene in 5 minutes.

And before we get started, sorry, eating my chocolate

But as you all know, Erin Conway, our Nelson County Times reporter, has moved on and she's working in... Emma.

Emma.

Emma, sorry.

Yes.

Emma Conway, my bad, has moved on and we have with us her replacement and that is Mr. Rodney Robinson, correct?

No, no.

But welcome.

And she did a really good job.

You probably know where you probably like her too.

And she said nice things about her.

She said she was going to help you.

All right, next, moving on to reports, county administrator's report.

All right, we'll start again, as always, with our comprehensive plan update.

On the project website again is www.nelson2042.com.

As you all are aware, the Board is anyway, and most of the folks here, public open house on the latest full draft plan was held on August 29th from 6.30pm to 9.00pm at the Nelson Center in Lovingston.

The County is still gathering public feedback on this draft to be considered at a joint meeting of the Board and the Planning Commission on September 28th at 6.30pm.

That meeting will be held here in the old Board of Supervisors room in the courthouse.

Comments may be left by completing a form on the nelson2042.com homepage or on the idea wall or by contacting county staff and supervisors.

As you are aware, there was some sentiment that the board may want to conduct more open houses.

So if you would like to discuss that at all, now might be a good time.

I felt bad that I was not more supportive of them.

I thought the crowd in some ways was a bit antagonistic and I wish I had been more supportive of them.

I feel that the consultants at the county have done an exemplary job at getting the public involved in the process and to have opportunities for comment.

I don't see that any additional meetings or anything like that would do anything to make it better because they still have opportunities to comment now and going forward.

We'll have a series of public hearings where they can do the same.

Yeah, I agree.

The upside to having additional open houses, especially at the expense that is incurred.

And I feel the public has ample opportunity to reach out to us individually, directly, and at future public hearings.

Yep.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

On to the next item, having to do with our Virginia Outdoors Foundation grant related to Sturt Park.

As you heard, Mr. West met with resident citizens in the vicinity of the Sturt property, and these folks expressed some concerns, as you heard earlier, regarding public utilization of the property.

Some main themes of their concerns were seclusion of the property and park security, timely and measured response to the property, hunting around the property,

increased traffic, property management, the cost-benefit to Norwood-Lingina citizens and the county of developing this property into a public nature preserve slash park.

These concerns, I think, should be taken into consideration and addressed to the extent possible in the ongoing planning process.

And so I do apologize if the board was not aware that the meeting was taking place.

Yeah, thank you for saying that because sitting here today with the accusations that were made by Mr. Stevens, you know, I felt a little bad about them.

Well, he was directing them to all of us, especially you first and the rest of us.

But we had no idea that there was a meeting taking place.

You know, I didn't know whether I had forgotten.

However, I thought the recommendation would be about having a committee of two residents.

I mean, I'm a neighbor.

I mean, it's right, you know, I'm right there.

Setting up a committee, it was a good idea.

We can certainly do that.

And I think going forward with any projects that the board endeavors, including the public that are most directly affected by the projects and decisions being made with those projects is a good thing.

So I think we should aim to do that going forward.

That area is, nobody's talking about having a huge recreation area.

And as Ms. Walker pointed out, the property was due to the county for specific purposes, so anything we do has to maintain the intent of that gift.

So we have not heard back yet if we have received any of the grant funding or any comments on our application at this point.

Moving on to the ongoing Piney River Solar, a special exception that is in Amherst County's court, but is adjacent to our Piney River Rail Trail.

On August 17th, they did hold a public hearing on a special exception request for a revised utility scale solar energy system by Piney River Solar.

As I mentioned, it's adjacent to the Piney River Trail,

It was referred back to their Planning Commission for consideration in September.

I understand there was a public meeting for the neighborhood of a possible solar farm in the Gladstone area.

It was held at the Hurd Center in the library last week, which I went to, except I went to Nelson Center

and then I tried to find out about it but ended up not attending it myself.

I do not.

I got a letter in the mail.

Do you know anything about that, Reverend Rose?

We were trying to figure out what meeting you were looking for and none of us had any idea about it.

Okay, David Blum reported a little bit on the status of the state budget so the General Assembly did pass a budget agreement on September 6 with some local impacts still to be determined.

A particular note is the state's intent to provide a 2% salary increase for K-12 education.

SOQ recognized positions beginning January 1, 2024.

Additionally, some state-supported local employees will receive an increase of 2% in their base salary effective December 1, 2023.

And certain constitutional officers will see an unspecified increase in compensation.

So we would like to see the specific budget language on these just in order to evaluate the county's obligation in providing for these increases.

As he mentioned, of local interest is an allocation of $200,000 for the Nelson Heritage Center.

I've also inquired as to the inclusion or not of the state's provision of 25% funding for the Regional Jail Authority's renovation project, and this is currently unknown.

I did reach out to the jail superintendent and I haven't heard back so I'm not sure if that was included in the budget or not.

Hopefully you all recall that we applied for Opioid Abatement Authority grants in cooperative partnership with Albemarle, Louisa, Green, Savannah, and the City of Charlottesville along with the Region 10 Community Services Board.

These grants were approved.

We were

The grant is for $834,974 for the CTAC expansion in addition of 23-hour crisis response and then the $448,500 for the Blue Ridge Center community response and addition of the community drop-in there.

There's no local match for these grants and Albemarle County will be responsible for grant acceptance and management for the performance period

which goes from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2024.

They are the active fiscal agent for the grant.

As far as the Route 151 corridor study update, VDOT and their consultant are still working on updating the study which will include the dissemination of a public survey and an in-person meeting to be scheduled from mid to late October.

Then they'll have recommendations and cost estimates to be finalized by the end of November and a subsequent VDOT presentation to the Board of Supervisors.

The schedule flows well with that of the comprehensive plan, allowing for its consideration and inclusion in the final draft to be presented for public hearings in winter of 2023.

I think you all were notified either by email or in a previous report that FEMA has issued the preliminary copies of the flood insurance rate maps and flood insurance study.

These were circulated to the board and other community stakeholders for review and comment.

This period provides an opportunity for reviewers to identify changes or corrections to non-technical information contained therein, such as road names, stream names, et cetera.

A link to the digital copies is available through the FEMA Map Service Center at the website shown here.

This was also added to the county's website for the public's easy access.

Adoption of these maps is a multi-year process that includes public engagement, public notification, a 90-day appeal period, issuance by FEMA of a letter of determination, and then a six-month period to adopt or amend

Our floodplain ordinance to reference the date and title of the new flood insurance rate maps and flood insurance study report.

More detailed information on the process will be provided in the coming months.

I don't yet have an update on the DSS building on the Callow Hill site.

I'm awaiting a response from the architect.

as far as where they are on their proposal for going into the design phase of the project.

I would like to note that we found out today our Parks and Recreation Department received an award at their VRPS conference this week.

It was for Best New Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiative for the Tunnel Accessibility Day.

So congratulations to them on that award.

We are also working with our IT department on our audio-visual solution for a better YouTube viewing experience of our meetings.

So that is in progress.

And we'll be reporting back on that in the near future.

I have a question on the DSS building and the Cali Hill site.

PMA is doing that?

Correct.

But they're under contract already for us to do that?

Yes.

Could you request an update from them?

It would be good to get an update in terms of what, you know, so we can estimate a timeline for going into a new budget season really soon.

Right.

The last time I spoke to them, they were going to be working on a proposal for proceeding to the design phase.

Yes, absolutely.

I'll let you all know as soon as I have an update from them.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Next, we have board reports.

Well, you know, Kenny, that's the thing about the Charlottesville jail.

They're still waiting on, you know, the funding.

So not much was happening there.

And there were two, close together, there were two deaths at the jail.

I've got a couple of reports.

Following up on TJPVC report, it was here earlier, and we talked a little bit about that.

Just wanted to get my microphone on.

I'm sorry.

TJPVC's draft strategic plan is out, and it

It looked really good in terms of where it's going, but I just wanted to let the rest of the board know some members of the public have had some questions about involvement by TJPDC and the value of what they provide the county, which is significant and what they're planning to be doing in the future.

There's not any significant changes, but I just wanted to mention that one of the real excellent services that they provide is it's an opportunity for

Supervisors and planners throughout the area to get an update every month about what's going on in their counties.

And it was very interesting to see that other counties are seeing a lot of some of the things that I personally had seen about members of the public presenting, Candy mentioned extreme

I think there are a lot of circumstances that might come up where people are showing up at meetings and presenting extreme circumstances as something that they're assuming to already be in place or going forward.

And so they're having the same problems we've had in terms of being able to provide good information in the public to let them know what actually is going on.

And then a lot of their fears are really unfounded,

One of the other things that we've talked about is short-term rentals and home stays in that forum.

I attended a Zoom call with a joint meeting with Charlottesville City Council and their Planning Commission because they've finished their comprehensive plan and they've already moved on to the proposals for zoning changes.

And one of the zoning changes that was proposed

that was put out for public comment had to do with homestays and limiting and restricting homestays and the proposal which they had put forth actually took the equivalent of what we have as R1 and banning homestays in any R1 areas.

That turned out to be such a volatile issue that they've kicked down the road and they're going to be looking at zoning changes

Don't include that, but it was just interesting to see that, yes, we're all dealing with the same problems.

Yes, there doesn't seem to be any quick and easy solution to them and how they're clearly going to be site-specific based on the locality where they are.

And so that was an interesting thing.

One other thing is that

John is undertaking a Rural Needs Assessment and I was put on the committee to do that.

However, they scheduled their first meeting this afternoon at 1.30, which of course made it impossible for me to be there.

I let them know early on that that was not something I was going to be able to attend and that it was going to

I wanted to make sure it didn't put us in any liability situation in terms of what's going to be going on, the fact that I couldn't be there for that meeting.

So they assured me it won't happen again.

And they're going to be checking in with me about stuff.

So I'm not against me, of course, staff as well.

So our participation in that assessment leading up to next budget session, I'm sure is going to be better than that.

The only other report I've got is that I did attend the candidates forum last night.

It was interesting to say the least, and without getting into any details, it was a little disconcerting to see some political dirty laundry being hung out at an event like that.

And I was kind of a little disconcerted by that, but going forward, you know, I'm hoping that that doesn't become the case.

I'll be more specific, not on the record.

Anything else?

As far as the board report?

Moving on to the EMS council that

I attended on the 15th.

A couple of notes I want to share from that.

Very exciting project that's coming up.

I don't know if you know what a Knox box is but it's basically a box that is kind of like real estate agents put on a house where it's got a lock and

I mean, there's a key inside of the box and has either a combination or something so you can get into the house and real estate agents can show it.

Well, the Knox box is a souped up version of that that fire departments can have access to in case there is, let's say there's an alarm going off at Power River Elementary School and they don't have to wait for the janitor or the principal or the school secretary to come from home and turn the alarm off and let the fire department in.

So these boxes would be mounted

And that was the beginning of where this started was the school system and Blue Ridge Medical wanted to have these available.

So it's something that's coming.

It involves about a $1,900 investment per truck in the fire department to have these boxes installed and have the system put in for them to do it.

And then for the business or the school, I think it's about $1,000 for them to get it set up on their end.

So they're moving forward with that.

They're going to ask for budget approval.

They would like to set these up on one unit per fire department.

So it would be a total of six.

Wintergreen is already set up to do that, but that is something that will be coming to us.

So about $2,000 times six units.

So a $12,000 request is pending.

I just want to give you a heads up that that's something.

But it's very exciting and they're looking to expand that not only to the schools in the Blue Ridge but to give local businesses the opportunity because once the infrastructure is set up on the truck,

There's no extra expense to additional businesses having this box on their building.

So they could spend a thousand dollars, get it set up on their building and then provide the fire department access if they needed it.

But also residents will be able to do it.

And that residential setup is only two to $300.

So you can imagine some of the property owners that maybe have a long driveway and they have a gate at the end of the road,

being able to put something and have the fire department be able to gain access easier, or if it's a vacation home, that type of thing.

So very exciting opportunity for the residents and business owners of the county to piggyback on something that the fire department is looking to implement already.

There was a conversation, can we talk about that ambulance, the 50-50 thing that we were talking about?

So the question came up about a grant that Rockfish was applying for to purchase an ambulance.

They did not qualify for the grant.

It was a 50-50 and they didn't get the grant, but they're asking if the county would still fulfill the county side of the agreement if they came up with the other half outside of the grant.

They haven't reached out?

Okay, well, that's something that, again, should be forthcoming.

And then last but not least, I was asked about the, currently we have a personal property tax relief for volunteers in the county, first responders.

They get up to $5,000 for one vehicle

Yes.

Um, so if they've got a $5,000 value truck, they don't have to pay any personal property taxes.

If they have a $10,000 truck, they only pay half.

Um, that rate was set in 1993.

So the question asked of me was, is, would we be, um,

interested in revisiting that rate.

And I don't think it's something we need to do right now.

Maybe we could consider it for next budget cycle.

But it is something that I would like for us to look at because it's been quite some time since we set that $5,000 value.

I don't know.

I know that the existing members are aware of it and they appreciate it.

Whether it's used as a recruiting tool, I would imagine at this point it might not be at $5,000, but I can't answer that.

But again, I don't think it's something we need to change right now.

I think it's something maybe we could just put, we'll put a pin in it and consider for next budget cycle.

Any other board reports?

If not, we'll move on to appointments.

It doesn't look like we have any appointments.

And we'll talk about the other committee.

I don't have any answers on that yet, but I've had conversations.

So no appointments.

Correspondence.

Any correspondence?

All right.

If not, we will move on to directives.

Any board member have any directives?

We'll get to Ernie.

He's on this end.

I defer to Ernie.

Mr. Harvey?

Yes.

New business.

Reverend Rose made a request for additional funding to fund meals appropriate to the increase in the number of active members they have at the Gladstone Senior Center.

And I believe it was

Two months ago that we had a request from Rockfish Seniors for a similar request for a smaller number of people.

Do you have some information on that?

So the Rockfish Seniors requested $12,300, which would be $3,075 per quarter.

Mr. Rose's request

Currently, the Gladstone Senior Center meals, they get $9,000 per year or $2250 per quarter.

So the request of $5,000 per quarter would be an additional $11,000.

That would be a total of $20,000 for the year.

And I believe there might be 60 seniors at Rockfish who are going to double check that number.

I would like to make the request for $5,000 a quarter, which would be $20,000 for the year for food for the seniors.

All right, so we have a motion and a second.

Why don't we do this jointly?

I agree.

It's something that we should probably take a look at in the budget cycle, because that's the appropriate place to do that.

This would at least take us up to the next budget cycle.

And I'll be honest, I didn't keep up with the math in my head.

Are we being fair with the two?

I just want to make sure we're not giving one more than the other, you know, as far as like the per person type.

But annually you'd be giving Gladstone $20,000 and Rockfish is getting $12,300.

And Rockfish may have more seniors than Gladstone.

Yes, it was within the last month or two.

They didn't get their request in time for the budget cycle.

They had some turnover in their personnel.

I have to go back and look.

What I have here is the agency funding sheet.

But you know there are.

Well, do we know that other community centers are doing meals for seniors like that?

I know, maybe they don't.

In this case, I don't think it's necessary for us to have to make things even.

I think Gladstone, I've been down there and that's very vibrant organization and Gladstone

We reached the disappointment of the depot and everything.

We could use a little cheering up.

Gladstone, just because of its location, tends to, I think they have seniors from adjoining localities that come to the Gladstone Senior Center.

Mr. Harvey?

Just as a point, the Rockfish was just done and none of the, no one else has expressed interest in doing it or asking for additional funds.

So we can't comment or vote on anything for anyone else, but Rockfish just asked for it two months ago was approved.

And as Mr. Reed said, we can revisit the whole project at budget time and reevaluate.

You vote.

Mr. Barton?

Yes.

Mr. Reed?

Mr. Barton?

Yes.

Yes.

Absolutely.

Thank you for the work you do there.

All right.

Do we have anything else for this afternoon session?

I so move.

All those in favor, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed?

See you at seven.

Agenda for this evening is public comments.

This is public comments for non-agenda items.

So this does not apply to the campground or to the school zone photo speed enforcement, just regular public comments.

And we have someone signed up that I can't read your name, I'm sorry.

So if you signed up for, okay, okay.

Because I think you also signed up for the, okay.

So just moving on to the, does anybody,

Good afternoon.

Many of you are aware that there was a public forum last night, and there's something that I wanted to catch up on.

and some of the things in progress that we've made in the scope of the salaries.

Those salaries will not be possible without you all.

I did reiterate when I came in all of this, salaries were gonna be started out at $28,000 and some changed and it's progressed.

And so I just wanna be clear and open to the public that I appreciate you all and it's a team effort.

So I just wanted to point that out here before you all tonight in a crowd.

Thank you.

Whoops, I need to turn my mic

And thank you for everything you do.

We appreciate you.

All right, so next we'll move on to the public hearing.

First, before we get started in that, I want to let everyone know that the special use permit number 998 Vacation House has been deferred by the applicant to October, so we will not be

having a public hearing on that this evening.

So this is a request for a special use permit to allow a one site campground on A1 zoned property.

It's at 2601 Falling Rock Drive, which is about two acres of land.

The owners are Luke and Caitlin Hodge.

Luke is here tonight if you have any questions for him.

This property contains an existing single-family dwelling that is utilized as a five-ride vacation house or short-term rental.

The narrative provided by the applicants indicates that they own a camper that they are requesting to utilize as a short-term rental while their family lives in the existing dwelling.

This area is residential and agricultural in nature.

The zoning in the vicinity is A1 and there are no floodplains located on this property.

The property is accessed by an existing entrance on Pauling Rock Drive and VDOT has no comments.

The house is also served by existing utilities.

The owner has been in contact with the health department and a licensed soil evaluator will be required to permit cleanup of the camper tube.

In relation to the comprehensive plan, this property is located in an area designated rural and farming on the future land use map, which would promote agricultural uses and compatible open space uses, but discourage large-scale residential development and commercial development that would conflict with agricultural uses.

The rural and farming district would permit small-scale industrial and service uses to complement agriculture.

Protection of visible farmlands should be encouraged.

Clustering of any new development areas of the site without prime or productive soils will enhance the protection of prime or productive soils for future agricultural uses.

So at their meeting on August 23rd, the planning commission voted 6-0 to recommend approval of this section of this permit with the following conditions.

There shall be no more than one site and the event shall be provided by the property owner and the location of the site shall meet property setbacks.

as well as the approval special use permits should be based on the following factors which you can see there.

The owner had originally on their site plan shown the camper there in front of the house to that.

They have since met with their soil guy and they're going to be moving it to approximately right there.

It's still gonna need setbacks and they'll have to update

I'm Luke Bogey.

I live at 2601 Pauline Mark Drive in Arrington.

And I don't know that I have much to add to what Emily said, but yes, our intention is to occasionally rent the camper for, I guess, the appeal we think to our land.

It's beautiful, agricultural, and then also, you know, we're supposed to buy our fishing just for occasional ventures for those types of things.

And the conditions that we put on, I think,

I'm in agreement with my neighbors on what we want and what we don't want.

And I think what we don't want is a lot of traffic in and out, especially people towing campers.

Anybody have any questions?

All right.

Thank you.

All right.

We will open the public hearing on special use permit number 1005, one site campground in A1 at 2601 Folly Rock Drive.

Thank you, members of the board.

I am Troy Nix.

1923, Folling Drive Drive, approximately half a mile from the applicant's location.

I've spoken with the adjacent landowners comprising approximately 125 acres, as well as nearby neighbors.

They'll push out on one.

And actually, I haven't spoken with anyone that has an objection to this application as it stated with the limitations.

So unless there's a member of the board that has a problem of applying those restrictions or conditions to the permit, I don't really need to speak further.

Thank you.

And I failed to mention in the beginning public comments.

Please state your name, your address, and you have three minutes to speak.

Next, we have

Is it Jenny?

Jerry, I'm sorry.

You want to speak now?

I'm Jerry Lloyd and I live at 9322 Rockfish Valley Highway in Afton, Virginia.

And I'm actually, even though the neighbors are all for this, I actually have quite a few questions.

First of all, what's the size of the camper?

Is it a fifth wheel?

Is it permanent?

Does it have a wrap around the bottom of it?

Will it be anchored?

Is it assessed with separate electricity?

How about the septic system?

Is it water that's going to be going to it?

Does it have separate water?

Is it going to have shower facilities?

How many bedrooms are in there?

And so without knowing that,

It's like, really?

So I don't know any of these answers to these questions.

They're not stated in here.

But the idea of bringing in a camper to rent out a camper on, even though it's a pretty close to a two-acre piece of property, is you can see the buildings in the background.

And even though it's far away, it's really close to the neighbors.

All right.

That's everyone who signed up for this public hearing.

Anyone else?

My name is Phillip Furgus and I live in Megan Lane, Shipman, Virginia.

And, you know, I am all for property rights.

I think, you know, I don't like to see restrictions on anybody's property, but I do have some concerns about setting the precedent for campers, you know, to be rented out as an Airbnb on the weekends on this one lot camping.

You know, having a campus set up on a one-side campground.

I mean, I just wonder if this is the kind of precedent that we want to set here in Nelson County.

I mean, there are a lot of campers that are sitting in folks' yards throughout Nelson County that we want everybody in Nelson County to start remembering their campus or have the option to do that.

You know, I certainly appreciate wanting to generate a little revenue to help with different things,

But I wonder if he's going to have to, I've heard him say that they've got to upgrade their septic and everything.

That's not an inexpensive proposition.

It's going to take a while to recoup just the investment he's going to have in updating his septic system and, of course, hooking up the electric and everything.

I'm just not sure that I'm in favor of setting a precedent, having campers set up

Thank you.

All right, anyone else want to speak?

If not, we will close this public hearing and open this up to discussion with the board.

I've got a question.

Because this is an application for a single campsite in a single vehicle, which is not necessarily preexisting, but a single vehicle on my own, is there any type of regulation or assessment that's done when there is a single

Not through our office as far as the state of the camper itself.

What they stated in their narrative is that it's a fifth wheel camper that they want to use to rent out occasionally.

from the Health Department, or from their own narrative, they say that they claim to have a clean app to the existing septic and use the hose for water.

The camper has its own filtration and hot water heater and will put a 50-day electric hose to plug into.

And then comments from the Health Department, from Travis Davis, that the applicant wishes to rent a camper on their property.

The camper will need to be permanently connected

I don't know if you know the answer to this.

Does it have to be licensed?

Well yeah, so it would have to be licensed, I think it's like a trailer camper situation from VMD.

So yeah, it would have to be licensed, but I don't know that zoning would require it to be licensed if it's going to be parked there, because I'm not sure what that license entails.

I can speak to that.

So they wouldn't inspect?

Yeah, of course, but it is maintained.

Well, the problem with that is if it's hooked up permanently, in order to get that inspection sticker, you have to take it to the garage to get it inspected.

And those are roadworthy requirements, not permanent site.

Checking the brake lights and that kind of stuff.

Anybody else?

Yeah, I got some questions.

That would just be a mobile home on a parcel, which we do allow.

But two or more mobile homes on a parcel is considered a mobile home park.

But you can do it as a special use permit.

I'm not talking about a mobile home, I'm talking about single-wide on an ad course piece of land.

Yeah, so we've approved one-site campgrounds in the past.

I don't believe we've approved any where the owner was providing the camper themselves.

But we did one, I think last year, we did one a few years ago for, I forget his name right now.

It's really just the only way to approve it because anything where somebody camping in something that's temporary in nature and not a structure that has a certificate of occupancy that utilizes a dwelling is a campground, even if it's just one site.

So as long as they meet that definition for a campground, that's what we need to consider in the ordinance.

Part of the plan.

So it looks like we have a couple of conditions.

No more than one site unit provided by the property owner.

So it's not going to be campers coming in and out and has to meet property setbacks.

Sounds to me like we've got approval from the neighbors.

And we have had these in the past that we have approved.

We have a six to zero approval from the Planning Commission.

Well, that's the plan.

I mean, that is the plan.

We do have an extraordinary circumstance tonight where we're missing two supervisors, one of whom is in the South District and the other who is sure to have opinions on this that we perhaps benefit from hearing.

Maybe I have one question for the applicant.

Sure, if I remember everyone

And to kind of clarify our intention, it is, so Travis sent that email and I've since spoken to Travis at the health department.

He clarified how he camps often, but not in a camper.

He camps in tents, so he didn't know how a camper hooks up.

So it doesn't need to be permanent.

The camper doesn't need to be permanent there.

We can still utilize it, which was our intention.

It's our camper.

I used it last weekend on a camping trip last weekend.

You know, we want to be able to do that and then when we're home, we're expecting a baby soon.

We have two toddlers when we're home and our kids just want to be able to, you know, rent the camper and to other folks when we're not using it.

So it's a 42-foot fifth wheel.

It does not currently have skirting for, I think, if conditions permit that where we need skirting for insulation.

Yeah, then we can do that.

According to our soil evaluator, we can just add a clean out to the current septic and we would just use a hose bib for water.

The camper does have some filtration.

It has one shower, it has one bedroom.

I'm missing something, but that's it.

Do you all want to act on this?

I think the word campground

In this situation, you know, it's just a zoning thing and I don't have a problem with it.

I'm prepared to vote to approve it, but I don't want to move forward if the two of you aren't or don't want to, or if you want to wait for the others.

I don't know.

I didn't talk to Jesse or Skip about this, so I don't know.

I would imagine that they were opposed to it, but I can't speak to that.

I know if I was opposed to something, I wasn't going to be at the meeting.

I would have reached out, but I don't have a problem delaying it either.

I mean, it's not going to cause a hardship.

If we delay it, I can't imagine.

What size is it locked?

And that's the total size of the lock.

That's originally where he was planning on putting the camper, but I believe it was on the subject field.

So now it's going to be more behind the house.

All right, let's go ahead and we'll push this to the

September 28th, can we do it then or should we move it?

Okay, second.

We have a motion and a second.

Thank you.

Next we have the school zone photo speed enforcement.

Who am I turning this over?

David Hill, Nelson County Sheriff's Office.

Today we have with us Greg Hoxton with Woodline Solutions.

Greg did a presentation a few months back in regards to speed enforcement via camera.

A couple years back, legislation was passed which enables localities, Sheriff's Office PDs to

to implement speed enforcement through camera systems.

They can only be used to my knowledge in school zones and also construction work sites.

There are some benefits.

Studies do show that there's a 90 to 95% roughly reduction in speed violations once these are implemented.

Mr. Hodgson can give a breakdown again, kind of just a recap on the positives behind that and some of the

The numbers that were shown via the statistics with the speed study that was completed a little over a year, about a year ago.

And these were conducted in each of the school zones, both elementary, Nelson County Middle and High School complex area as well.

So that was November 27th through October 3rd, Monday.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Monday.

So we get a five day comprehensive study.

Yeah, five day study.

Yes sir.

My name is Greg Alderson.

I live at 303 South Mona Vista Drive in the late Springs, Virginia, which is in Washington County in the great Southwest.

I just want to thank you again for the opportunity to come here and speak to you again and answer any questions that the board may have or anyone here that is in favor of possibly against

went on to the Commonwealth.

Our company comes in, let's say I've got a background in law enforcement 26 years and still in a kind of active capacity as an auxiliary officer here in Commonwealth Virginia.

And I really emphasize my career on public safety, public outreach, communication, and traffic safety.

And when this legislation was passed in 2020,

It specifically identified two locations that only this type of enforcement can be conducted in and that's school zones and how we work zones.

Two really crucial areas that we need to focus to slow people down and that's why we come in with the permission of the sheriff, school board members to conduct a five-day comprehensive study to give them an oversight of what a true week's worth of driving data and behavior is of these zones.

And you know, we can let the public see it tonight.

You know, we come in and we get

The high school, middle school complex would have 45,000 vehicles, a little over 45,000 come through that zone between 730 a.m. and 4 p.m. and 5,300, which is considered a violation by state code.

This is one of the only state codes that puts a limit on what can be considered a violation.

So it has to be 10 or above before it can be considered a violation in a school or a work zone.

And just a little tip, does that work?

This one here you can see in the shaded area.

It's broken down and you've got the gray which is the majority of the violations.

There's 3,000 some violations at 11 to 14 over.

They were a little over 1,000 some over the 15 to 20 category.

In the orange category it says

I'm not a traffic infraction.

That's at 21 and above.

That truck was driving my speed.

And it was 885 violations when I threw that school zone there that week.

So we come in to give that overview picture to the locality and let you understand to see if there is a need or if there is a problem in those school zones.

And then once, if a locality decides to move forward, then that's when we come in and start what they call public information.

Because if any program is going to be successful, no matter what it is, whether it's traffic enforcement or any type of enforcement that can affect a community, the success is the educational portion of it to where we properly educate the citizens of the county, the locality, the school members, staff, faculty, and the parents that will be traveling through that area.

And I really didn't know at this point in time until we actually got active accounts in the ground to see how we would want to produce that information.

So right now we have 10 active localities that's implemented our school zone safety program.

We're working closely with Albemarle County.

We're in the very end stages of negotiation through procurement legal.

Hopefully that will move forward very soon.

And we've got about 22 agencies that's really currently interested in our program now that we're dealing with from Southwest to Eastern, Georgia, Nova.

But the one county that went first, and Sheriff Foster and Witt County,

really stepped up to the plate because he knew that they had a problem.

And when we started, and I'll show you what type of reduction, and the only way that we get this type of reduction in school zones is proper education.

That is the key to this program, hands down.

Not the enforcement, it's the education in combination with the enforcement.

It's why the numbers are driven down.

Their high school was the highest volume school that they had in the county, and they was having about 2,500 violations per week in that school zone.

Once we captured the data, we did the public information and education, 30, 45 days of solid information and education to the citizens, to the school board, the portal, reaching out to the parents, civic events, anything of that to bring the attention to the program and let people know why it's coming because of the need of the data.

We went through 30 days of warnings and then after we

We went from 2500 violations per week in that school zone to 90.

So we went from 2596 to 90 violations per week in that school zone.

Because the whole hinge of the program is on the proper education.

And you know when the General Assembly put this together they identified two real important areas to address this and this is in our school zone.

The second school they had had 1,000 violations.

We took it down to 59.

The other one was 297 violations a week.

We took it down to 16.

So we had a 96%.

And Bridgewater has one school.

And Chief Reed has just been phenomenal to work with there.

They have one school on 4 Lane.

And I apologize, I don't know if I had to get through this.

Their numbers, I don't know if I put this

Bridgewater went, they had a 91% reduction post-60 day enforcement.

So, and they promote walk to school days and they're working with VDOT to get a crosswalk put on one of the four lanes and it was a very needed program.

And every chief and sheriff that we've worked with that's in the process of implementation start at least like I said 30 to 45 days

This is hands down our biggest complaint area.

As you all know from budget meetings, you can write them out about how many deputies we have out working at any given point in time.

Right now, we probably have three deputies out working tonight.

Tomorrow morning, two to three.

We have three school zones.

Having deputies present in those school zones is not always possible.

And so it fluctuates if calls come in there

That's our primary duty is to respond to these calls.

So having this in place as a force multiplier would be a tremendous help to our communities.

It would be a safety measure to help our students and teachers, bus drivers, and everyone.

It's a reassurance.

So in regards to personnel, any revenue that's generated from this, it would go back to the general fund and you all would get to decide how that's used.

But in regards to the reduction rates, if the violators are reduced from 90 to 95 percent, somewhere in that range,

I just want to thank John just to clarify because this is one of the biggest questions that we get asked is, what's the penalty for a violation?

It's intended to be a civil penalty only.

It's not intended to even rise to the burden of a traffic infraction.

So there's no point to assess the violations that's captured in any of these areas.

and Paul layers insurance.

You don't have to go to board and you do not have to be assessed for processing phase because back to the locality as Sheriff explained and it's reallocated and you put back into public safety or school safety, what it's intent is to be there but that's completely up to the board on how that's reallocated throughout the county.

And just to have that capability where it does not, it's not an extended punitive

Like punishment for a violation court does not meet your driving record and it does not follow you through your insurance and it's not reported.

And a lot of people don't realize that until they actually dive into the code and they see that.

What happens in a multiple thing when the sheriff's been caught five times?

I guess he'll pay just like everyone else.

Do they watch it enough?

The general assembly has to set that forth before that can happen.

Like, second or so is a point.

The more offenses, the more offenses make your bond go up.

But right now, by the way, the state statute is written, it's a $100 civil penalty only.

I've got a question for the chair.

Yes, sir.

So when you have a deputy on-site in one of the schools, just when you have one available, what is the standard protocol that they do when they're there?

No, so they'll sit there and most of it's preventative control.

That way they're seen in the school zones.

Usually the first couple weeks or so, a lot of times, their deputies, and it's their discretion that they sit there with their lights on because school's back in session.

Their school's here the week prior to school starting, they turn the flashing lights on during those times to let people get used to it or locals get used to it.

Some of their deputies,

may turn their blue lights on.

There may be times when their radar equipment may not be working properly.

So they're going to be limited on how they use the radar or they won't be able to use it at all.

We've been fortunate to be able to replace a lot of radars over the years, but they do have front and rear antennas, but they can catch both oncoming and going away traffic.

but there will be limitations on what side of the roadway they can work because of that if they're using LiDAR now that opens it up to where and that's a handheld unit they can work different lanes but in regards to the lights being on or not most of the time they will not have their lights on but they're sitting in a very obvious part of the roadway where people can see is a deterrent and this won't necessarily keep our folks from

Being seen there, I hope that they will spend time in the school zones when they're available.

If this is implemented, to be seen as an additional material.

I understand that your focus is more on deterrent than it's prosecution.

Yes, sir.

But is there any data that you have on

I could run that information.

It would take me a little time to get that, but I can just cherish it.

And I'll say, when I worked the road here years ago, and I worked the school zones every day, that was my thing.

I worked daylight shift.

And most of the violators that come through are not our citizens.

They're not our citizens.

But having additional signage where it displays it well in advance, this area is monitored by camera, you know, speed enforcement via camera, I think that's going to help quite a bit.

One other thing I just wanted to throw in, and I forgot to mention it.

That program, and I hope everyone is aware of it,

We put these in at free of charge, no drugs to the localities of the sheriff to the school system because we want everyone traveling into that school system to get that last visual indication at their speed before they get into that enforcement area.

So you're going to see the school games on the road, you're going to see the static time with the parent and child crossing the road, then you're going to see the flashing lights, and then you're going to see the radar feedback time.

So we, working with VDOT in New Kent County and Bridgewater,

We've actually implemented our regular feedback signs on the flashing school beacons.

So when you see the 25, you're actually seeing your speed flashing your face right before you get into that enforcement area.

So you can actually see if you ever visit or if you ever go to a school zone enforced area, you will see a tremendous amount of people slowing down before they get even close to the enforcement area.

And that's what everything is intended to do, to slow the traffic down going through that one dedicated area.

And once they've cleared the school zone, then they can go back to the home.

Thank you.

Ready to open this up?

All right.

We will now open the public hearing.

My name is Robert Bubish, 334 Rainbow Bridge Road in Fobber.

This was presented a couple of months ago at a board meeting and I'm repeating myself, but I think one obvious question that hasn't been asked, and I ask it now, is with all the data that's been presented, how many children have been run over by the speeders,

and how many school buses have been crashed into by someone speeding.

And since I live here, I've heard of none, so I'm gonna guess that no children have been smashed, no school buses have been smashed, no property damage has happened due to these speeders, and no one's been injured.