Charlotte County seeking grant for new ambulance purchase; Buckingham Supervisors
Plus: Charlottesville City Council meeting in closed session to interview firms for City Manager search
Just three events today as I’m a little late on getting to one of these meetings which is already underway. So, let’s get right to it!
Buckingham County Supervisors to consider proposal for STEPS to take over Madeline House services
The seven-member Board of Supervisors in Buckingham County meet at 6 p.m. in the Peter Francisco Auditorium in the County Administration Complex. (packet)
The usual opening of a meeting includes adoption of the minutes. Buckingham County uses verbatim minutes, and there’s an exchange between Chair Joe Chambers and one woman who ends up being removed from the meeting. There’s a lot of concern from some community members that the county is not doing enough to stop gold mining. This will be an issue to continue watching this year.
The minutes from a closed session on February 3 of this year indicate that the county will settle with Atlantic Investment for property, with the county buying it back. The land will be remarketed for sale by the Economic Development Committee.
After that, there will be a presentation of a resolution for Virginia Miss Agritourism 2023, a 16-year-old who is the first person to hold that position.
Then there will be a report from the Virginia Department of Transportation on road matters from division resident engineer Scott Frederick.
There are two public hearings.
A couple seek a special use permit to operate an AirBnB at 2870 Rock Mill Road in Dilwyn.
The Buckingham County Firefighter’s Association seeks a special use permit to operate an event center near 300 S. Constitution Route in Dilwyn. They want to have up to 4,500 people on site at any given time. That’s down from an original request of 6,000 people.
In other business:
Piedmont Senior Resources seeks a waiver of a fee to rent the Community Center for their Buckingham Friendship Cafe. They would like to pay no more than $300 a month. “Once a week, older adults in each county meet in a central location to join for fellowship, crafts, games, a balanced nutritional meal, exercise, falls prevention workshops, Balanced Living With Diabetes workshops, and much more.”
STEPS, the area’s Head Start provider, seeks permission to obtain unspent funds by Madeline’s House, which is now defunct. Madeline’s House had been providing assistance to victims of domestic violence.
The Fireman’s Association wants to be able to use the same site for the tractor pull again this year.
The Prospect Volunteer Fire Department wants to be able to be dispatched for calls directly from the Farmville Emergency Communications Center without a specific request from Buckingham County.
Kyanite Mining wants to make a $900 donation to the Animal Control Department.
Supervisors will consider accepting and appropriating a $30,000 tourism recovery grant from the American Rescue Plan Act. The funding will be used for a website to promote tourism sites in Buckingham County.
The Buckingham-Dilwyn Garden Club is requesting to use the Community Center without paying a fee for their 90th anniversary on June 10, 2023.
Charlotte Supervisors to consider school budget amendments, ambulance grant
The seven members of the Charlotte Board of Supervisors will meet at 6 p.m. (packet)
The meeting begins with a public hearing on amendments to the FY23 school budget, followed by a consideration of appropriations for the school budget. This includes the addition of $1.727 million in various federal and state grants.
Then there will a presentation of the audit of the FY2022 books.
Then an annual report from the Industrial Development Authority.
“The primary focus of the IDA in 2022 was the Shaw building located in Keysville,” reads the report. “The IDA plans to market the building and site once the upgrades are completed.”
Then a project update from Dominion Energy.
Then an update from Riverstreet on the broadband project.
After committee reports and a public comment period, there will be a discussion of installing two gateway signs on U.S. 360 using American Rescue Plan Act tourism recovery funds.
Then a discussion on the budget for rescue squads. In January, Supervisor Bailey noted that the Charlotte County Rescue Squad is “really struggling to staff three units full time.”
Two items later will be a discussion of a grant for a new ambulance from Virginia’s Rescue Squad Assistance Fund. The county will apply for 100 percent of the cost, but Supervisors are being asked to cover at least half in case the award is not that high. That will be $352,567.71.
Supervisors will also set dates for budget work sessions and set a public hearing for the relocation of the Drakes Branch precinct.
Charlottesville City Council to interview firms for City Manager search
Charlottesville’s Interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers has been in the position for 54 weeks now and the city’s contract with the Robert C. Bobb Group remains in place. In December, the city issued a request for services for a firm to find a permanent replacement. According to the request, the firm will:
Help Council determine the best way to proceed with choosing a new City Manager
Assist Council to develop a candidate profile for the skills and qualifications the new City Manager should process
Produce recruit material
Conduct a “broad and thorough recruitment in consideration of diversity, equity and inclusion”
Identify specific candidates and conduct personal outreach
Accept and review applications and develop interview questions
Help Council with the selection of three to five candidates
Conduct background checks on the finalists
Council will meet at 3 p.m. to go into closed session to interview firms for the position. The timeline in the request states that the firm will have until April 14 to produce the list of finalists to Council. (meeting info)
As a reminder, Rogers is the fourth person to serve in the position since the contract of Maurice Jones was not renewed in 2018. That does not include one person who initially took the job but opted to accept the position.
In other meetings:
The Mecklenburg County Board of Supervisors meeting has already begun at the time of publication. They’re discussing solar amendments. Watch the video here: