foreign
good evening ladies and gentlemen I'm
going to call this meeting of the
Russell County Board of Supervisors
together I've got a little Echo here if
somebody at the sound booth can help me
out a little bit
can everybody hear
all right
so um at this moment we're going to
stand for the invocation and the Pledge
of Allegiance
let us pray father God Lord we thank you
for this day we thank you for the many
blessings that you've given us we thank
you for allowing us to come and be a
part of local government father father
we ask that you forgive us for where we
fail you each and every day lead us
guide us and direct us in your name I
pray amen
of the United States of America and to
the Republic for which sustains one
nation under God indivisible with
liberty and justice for all
thank you
so um tonight I'm going to ask for an
approval of the agenda please
Madam chair I'd like to make a amendment
to our agenda Steve
that um
our County Administrator is going to do
a presentation on the personal property
relief tax credit so I'd like to make an
amendment that if we have to take any
action we can do that based on what the
staff and the County Administrator is
going to report to us if we have taking
action I want to put in there that we
can
okay so I have a motion to add to the
agenda concerning the pptr credit
um do I hear a second
I have a second from Mr Christian uh any
more discussion
I'll call for the vote all in favor
any opposed any abstentions motion
carries thank you
oh my goodness sorry about that so at
this time we'll have our presentations
which is listed in this agenda we're
going to start off with the number well
the first presentation is Dr meister and
Sheriff die with the Russell County
Animal Shelter thank you guys for coming
tonight
thank you can I face you was that easier
it is okay it is easier for us you're
you're addressing us so if you need to
wheel that around fine thank you for
allowing us to come I really appreciate
the board and the community that's
present
um I just wanted to present to you
tonight some information on the Russell
County animal shelter and uh propose for
our new shelter
um I have presented you and I apologize
it was not in your packet earlier just
to give you some numbers of our intake
of animals for the last three years we
are averaging about 820 dogs in our
shelter 45 of those are owner surrender
and 44 of those are Strays we did have
six percent seizures
um and that goes with our law
enforcement
of those animals only 14 are reclaimed
by their owners
12 of those are adopted in locally and
then we transfer out 70 of our dogs we
do have about two percent euthanasia or
deaths due to injuries and things like
that that we have performed so I just
wanted to give you the stats you can see
on your left our right column the
current numbers for the last eight
months
um our space we're taking about 70 dogs
a month
and the space in our shelter were
running out of space so we um have a lot
of stray calls that we take and that we
have to tell people can you hang on to
that dog until we have space I am
currently housing uh five dogs at
Southwest Virginia Veterinary service
for lack of space at the shelter now we
do have 21 dogs leaving on transport
tomorrow but that's an exception to the
rule
um
we need to replace certain things at the
shelter and because of the cost of that
I think building a new shelter will be
more cost efficient and I think I
presented I believe in 2018 to the board
about this issue
um we are doing our best I have a
wonderful staff I have a full-time
manager which I'm very grateful for
thank you Mr Lester
um who is doing a fabulous job they're
using a rescue hospitalized cleaner to
phone that shelter so we've had low
cases of Parvovirus only parvovirus that
we've had this year was actually brought
in by another dog and it didn't spread
but to one other dog and not 44 animals
so I'm very proud of my staff I
appreciate making you service workers
that we have working for us and now we
have an agreement with Walmart we have
some volunteers from Walmart and they're
doing excellent job so I really it's a
team effort it's not just me
we need to my staff is very diligent
about their cleaning if an animal is
sick they immediately isolate call me I
get samples or I go down to the shelter
myself I will be at the shelter at least
four times this week
um so they're doing a good job to try to
contain things and to let me know and I
appreciate that
um we need to we do have some land
purchased over on Overlook Drive that we
have procured to put the shelter at and
I would like to propose do we need to
have a committee or what forward what
can we do to move forward in the shelter
we haven't had our state inspection yet
this year but we will not pass all to
the inspection we've had issues with the
floors that I've presented before we
can't find a paint to stick to the
floors the surfaces are supposed to be
impervious to everything and cleaned and
we cleaned as well as we can they they
do a good job cleaning but the paint
won't stick the paint won't stick on the
wall some of the metal runs are not
actually attached to the floor anymore
we do need to require to separate
animals required to prevent animals for
becoming injured and prevent them from
being sick and we've been carrying this
out for several years as best we can and
we're kind of reaching a critical point
um so I don't know if you have any
further copies
I mean it's obviously the brains of
operation in itself better do most of
the talking about
I deal with Animal Control Officers
mostly and the problem that we run into
I mean I think this at home with you
guys because you've been very service
oriented board taking care of people but
when people call about Strays running
through the neighborhood and the Animal
control officer has to say well could
you call back next week we don't have
anywhere to put more people show up with
animal surrenders and we can't take them
you know percentage of those are going
to end up a Strays and part of what's
caused our problem
yeah
during the lock the pandemic and
lockdown we were just and we were able
to get rid of dogs left and right to
everybody all the shelters were taken or
rescues were taking them because there
were so many animal adoptions when
people started going back to work they
couldn't Care for Animals anymore and
they're taking them back to the rescues
a different shelter never was just
flooded and we're having a hard time
getting rid of the animals so we're
housing more but the problem is is when
we you know we have to tell people I'm
sorry call back next week we don't have
anywhere to put you know I'm gonna start
getting calls you guys are going to
start getting calls I mean it just makes
for a bad situation and we had issues
with the fact that Florida had such a
Monumental hurricane a lot of the
rescues did go down to Florida and bring
some of those animals to fill up their
shelters so they weren't taking our
animals which we totally understand that
was a crisis and and needs to be cared
for and I don't mind that we have about
50 owner surrendered I'd rather an owner
come in and say I can't care for can't
take care of can't provide then put the
dog out and have our officers running
all over town or having them bite people
or have start fights with other animals
so I don't mind that our community
brings us animals I would rather they
bring me something they can't care for
and let me find a home for it and care
for it there so I do appreciate you
listening and all the support that you
have given me over since 2012 and I have
a sheriff I and Mr lenser we all take
care of the shelter together and that
has worked very well
oh I just got one thing Madam chair if I
could I appreciate both of you all for
what you're doing uh with animal welfare
and well-being uh my recommendation I
guess from personal standpoint is you're
the expert Dr meister and any
recommendation as far as size of a
facility what it needs
you're the expert I don't think that
this could be turned over to an
engineering person or anybody like that
because this is your field of expertise
so my recommendation would be that if
you could give a this board something to
go by or some kind of you know ideals of
what you would like to see in it as far
as capacity and that I think that would
go a long way because I'm no expert in
this and I don't think that anybody
outside the the field would be as far as
an engineering or an architect I think
it's going to have to take somebody that
knows the business to give us those that
kind of advice and from Animal Control
and you know everybody working together
like you said to give us that kind of
ideal of what it should look like
perhaps having plans and we of course
have to follow
that have in our facility and how much
space each animal's supposed to have so
we do have some plans drawn up that we
can certainly share with the committee
at a later date and then we also have
some experts who have built now
obviously we're not going to build a
shelter as big as what Christian Berg
has I think it's a million dollar
facility we know we're not going to do
that in Ross County that's not what we
can support here here but I've had the
veterinarians that have been involved in
building that children welcome to look
at our plans and our state inspector has
offered to look at our plans to make
sure that we have something on paper
that's going to comply versus getting
something up and then realizing we left
an important issue out in the costing
our taxpayers more money I'd like to be
as efficient and as best spent but we
need to do something okay
um if I may thank you all I appreciate
it we have we have been through crucial
times with you guys before so this is
not near as bad as what we've had before
but anyway
um I I would like to take chairs
priority here prerogatives and can I put
together a a committee uh so Mr Lester
your um you're our financial guy and of
course would you guys serve on that
committee with Mr lesser and one more
board member would that be loading it up
too much a board member
Steve Rebecca somebody
you're our dog transport man right he's
volunteered that makes him
let's meet him outside
okay so we have that
um if if you guys will meet and and work
on that and bring back to us what we can
do
it'd be a pleasure to help you I'd just
like to say it's this is long long
day we that was a priority back when we
first took office and we
effectively just kicked his can down the
road you know and it's time to do
something not just talk about it we've
got to do it and you know we'll dig the
money up somewhere cool and I'm afraid
our issue is going to become worse
because of the fact that the cost of
living cost of heating constant things
we're going to have members of our
community who just cannot got to make
choices of whether they can board the
roof over their heads and the food and
for children or grandchildren they may
be raising and the Pet's not going to be
on that list because of the financial
need and I want to be there to support
those people and to have a place for
that they don't have to worry about
their animals being euthanized
um because I think we are heading
towards that direction
so I appreciate the committee's
consideration thank you thank you very
much
next we have a presentation by Ms April
Moorefield
hey can you hear me all right with this
the way it is it's a little bit down
I have a cold too so I'm sorry
um a little scratchy
all right so I'm here to talk to you
about a wonderful program that we have
um in place in Tazewell County as you
know I live in Tazewell County but I'm
the executive director of The Care
Center of Southwest Virginia that's a
Child Advocacy Center that operates
um in Tazewell County we serve Tazewell
County Russell County and Buchanan
um before I talk to you about that
special project
um first I'd like to talk to you about
um
what we do in Russell County and what
I'd like to bring in Russell County
where I like to bring to Russell County
um I want to talk to you about the care
center and how this new project evolved
in Tazewell County what I'd like to see
happen in Russell so again the Care
Center is a Child Advocacy Center and we
do serve Three Counties what we do we
partner with law enforcement prosecution
Department of Social Services mental
health agencies the public school system
and victim Witness
we work with children who are alleged
victims of child abuse and neglect
physical abuse and so forth
um so we really um support those
agencies as part of the investigative
process so when a child has been
allegedly abused the investigator from
the Department of Social Services or the
law enforcement investigator brings that
child to the care center and we offer a
forensic interview and um in that
forensic interview we have a person who
is skilled and trained at talking to
Children about their victimization
in another room we have this the law
enforcement investigator we have
prosecuting attorney's office and we'll
have sometimes CPS watching that
interview live and being able to talk
back and forth to that forensic
interview interviewer and the reason why
we do this is to prevent children from
having to talk about their story of
victimization in a school setting or
having to having to go into a law
enforcement building you know with their
parents and talk about what happened to
them
that's very traumatizing for a child
it's actually
um re-victimizing a child when that
happens
so that's what the Care Center does
since we opened a 2019 we have seen 99
children from Russell County alone we've
seen over 400 from The Three Counties
combined
we provide Victim Advocacy and support
for that child and the family going
through the investigative process so
when a child has been abused and charges
are brought we actually go with that
child to court and we support the family
and help them understand the
investigative process because sometimes
the investigative process is a very
adult-like process and we aim to make it
very kid-friendly
um
so
um in we opened in 2019 in 2020
I realized a need that there were
children of Southwest Virginia we're not
getting the same Medical Care as the
children
um across other parts of Virginia for
example when a child has been sexually
assaulted or even physically abused they
need to have appropriate medical care
for that type of abuse rather than going
to the emergency department and being
asked by a nursing doctor what happened
to talk about that you're unlikely to
get the details of the victimization
um during that time so I developed a
partnership with VCU Virginia
Commonwealth University in Richmond
there is a pediatrician up there who is
one of three pediatricians in the entire
state of Virginia who is certified child
abuse maltreatment pediatrician she
reviews every finding from our Medical
Department our Medical Department is at
Ultra Health
um across from Walmart at cable hill we
we have a sane nurse that sexual assault
nurse examiner who has 30 years
experience she comes home from Roanoke
two days a week to do these examinations
on the children of Russell tazlin
Buchanan who have been neglected
physical abused and sexually assaulted
that evidence goes a long way in being
able to prosecute these cases because in
Virginia a child has to take the witness
stand in any case that goes to trial and
they have to face their perpetrator
and talk about the abuse that's hard on
a child
but if a child has a problem verbalizing
what happened on the witness stand
when you have a medical provider such as
a pediatrician from VCU and a nurse that
has 30 years experience trained in
pediatric sexual assault examinations
saying we saw the tares we saw this we
saw that whatever it may be that goes a
one way in supporting the case and being
able to support that prosecuting
attorney and being able to prosecute
those cases and put that perpetrator
behind bars so that's a child's not
victimized anymore the perpetrator
cannot victimize more children because
there are a lot of repeat perpetrators
out there
so we opened that department in 2020
we've seen
um over 200 children in that department
I know
we had about six today that she saw
um you know from Russell County on loan
I was thinking about some of the cases
we've had probably 50 of those 99 to go
for the medical examinations we had a
child suicide a couple years ago from
Russell County
we've had a child torture case
we've had things that you guys would not
believe it has changed who I am and it
has changed how I operate as a parent
child abuse is not talked about it has
someone the other day tell me
um April I'm so glad that back in my day
stuff like this never happened and we we
kept our doors unlocked and I thought it
happened they just weren't talking about
it
and I'm here to tell you that it's
happening it's happening every single
day and it's probably happening right
here right now
um since September 1st we have had 12
referrals from Russell County alone for
children that have been abused and
neglected sexually assaulted
so
um as we continue to do this this work
that's very difficult and challenging
but rewarding
um
about a couple of months ago well
last January actually we went through
the accreditation process and the Care
Center was accredited so we are one of
17 child advocacy centers I believe it
is that is accredited so we're doing
everything the right way
um and we saw a need a couple months ago
really about six months ago and this
evolved out of Buchanan County DSS
we had a call from McKenna County DSS
who was one of our partners and they
said we have a problem we have a child
who is in a wheelchair and he's a
teenager he has cerebral palsy and I
think I'm saying that correctly
um and the family in Lynchburg cannot
keep him any longer because he's
becoming violent he's a teenager he's
pulling hair he's punching and they
don't know what to do this kid has no
family
they had to house him there keep him
there and I mean bathe him change his
diaper things that foster care workers
should not be doing so we talk about
turnover in an organization that's going
to cause a lot of turnover and that's
something we don't need either in DSS
agencies
so um will and I my husband Dylan
Moorefield we we reached out to the
governor's office and we did some
research and we found that there were 39
other children in the same situation
living across Virginia in ERS in hotel
rooms and DSs agencies that's a problem
so I started talking to the local agency
here and and in Tazewell County and I
found out that it's problem here too
so I am I happen to think why don't we
just create something a home for
children to be able to come and stay
until they find that foster care family
because it's hard right now to find
foster care families so that that
waiting period that DSS has
is three 24-hour periods I believe I'm
correct I serve on the Tazewell County
DSS board and I think that's right
um so during that time period a child
would have to go and sit in a cubicle or
in an office or sleep in a DSS agency
that that that is the most traumatic
time of their loss they I mean sometimes
when they leave the Care Center and they
talk about their victimization they
don't go back home
and they'll it breaks my heart but
they'll say do I get to go back and get
my dolls
because those dolls to a four-year-old
is really important and it's just
heartbreaking but they don't get to go
back and get anything and they're told
you're going to go to a new family
for a little while until Mom and Dad get
lined out or maybe you're going to go to
grandparents whatever it may be
and it's so traumatic so we need to
support these children during that time
so in Tazewell County the Care Center
has created what's called Harper's home
um and I'd like to have this in Russell
County and that's why I'm here Harper's
home is a
a
safe landing spot for those children so
for the foster care worker to bring the
child when they're placed into care in
the custody of the state to bring the
child to sit
um
and the child will be with trained
volunteers and they'll be able to get a
bath sometimes they're removed in the
middle of the night sometimes it's after
school they'll be able to get clothing
and things they need shoes a hot meal
home cookies chicken and dumplings
pizzas whatever that kid wants we are
going to have there we're going to be
prepared because we already partnered
with DSS and DSs can tell us this child
loves pizza this child loves McDonald's
this child wants brownies Whatever It Is
We're Gonna Love on those children we're
going they're going through that
heartbreaking time
so
um
we want this again here in Russell
County I want one in every County but
um I like to start with Harper's home
too in Russell County
so Harper as a two-year-old little girl
let me tell you about her
um she passed away April of 2020 I
believe from
um blunt force trauma to the head by
mom's boyfriend in Salem and I guess
some of y'all have seen the uh justice
for Harper Billboards and so
um her grandparents are from Dickinson
County and they've done a great job with
the love Harper Comfort bags
um so they actually handed that over to
the Care Center this past week so we're
going to be picking up that and carrying
the torch for the love Harper Comfort
bags and I thought what better way to
honor little Harper than to name a home
after her because she was a very giving
and loving little child and we want to
keep her spirit alive and never forget
her so that's why it's calling Harper's
home and it will be a satellite center
for the child advocacy center so right
now again all the investigators from
Russell County are driving to Richlands
to utilize the Care Center for those
forensic interviews if we do this in
Russell County we can put cameras in and
do the forensic interviewing as a
satellite Child Advocacy Center in
Russell County
so that's another benefit it helps the
sheriff's department investigators and
so forth so they don't have to drive so
much and the families of Russell County
who are having to come to
Richlands to the Care Center
let me see you make sure I don't I
didn't miss anything else in my notes
so a couple of months ago I was
appointed to
um Governor yonkin's task force safe and
sound task force it's a task force to
try to help end children sleeping in
these inappropriate places
um and so I'm very honored to get to do
that but one of their goals is to have
wraparound support from the faith-based
community and the governor feels like
that
um you know the the churches could
really get involved to support the
foster care homes and not just bringing
up families within the churches to
become foster parents but providing
support in a sense that say children
that come to Harper's home there are
volunteers that are going to be working
at this home along with Care Center
employees they're going to see these
children they're going to fall in love
with these children they may want to
take these children and be foster care
parents they may say hey I think I can
take this one on or they may say you
know what when they get into their
foster care home
um I can help get him to ball practice
or I can help to get him to adding to to
his mental health care appointment so
that's that's where the mental health
I'm sorry the faith-based community can
come in and support this project and
that's my plan I have met with the
Russell County Christian Coalition all
of them are on board I've met with the
redbud
committee and um Jim Baldwin
they are on board with this project and
so um
I just wanted to show a picture of
Harper
you can see her and there will be
pictures and things of her up in the
community and promoting Harper's home if
we do this here she'll never be
forgotten and one last thing from
Russell County I I have to thank Russell
County so much you all have been so
welcoming to the Care Center there's
actually a family that owned the brewery
here in town and apologize I can't
remember their names Courtney Mosley I
believe they they donated a black lab
and his name is Rocky and he's going to
be the therapy dog for the children he's
going to Northern Virginia December the
1st to be trained for about eight weeks
and he's already been in training some
with Ruth Johnson and he's um just the
best little dog and kids are going to
love him so he's going to be a therapy
dog and go to court with the children
when they have to testify
thank you so very much we appreciate you
Madam chair can I say something uh
uh thank you April I've had real passion
since I first got elected for this
initiative with foster children
we went around visited quite a few
churches talking to families about
taking a child getting in a different
environment I'm so grateful for what
she's doing and I appreciate the red bug
committee I've actually talked to the
County Administrator and I think our
legal department has uh I think we have
to have a public hearing to be able to
do this but if you could instruct me on
the motion
uh
the first thing we would have
this is working I'm sorry
the first thing that we would have
tell you do I not have to hold it again
okay sorry
I used to have to hold it in I'm sorry
um the first thing that we would have to
do is vote to accept the property back
from the Redbud Festival
um and I'll prepare a deed but you could
go ahead if the board does wish to move
forward with that tonight you could
accept it and you can't convey it to any
entity or individual without holding a
public hearing so that would have to be
said but you can vote to accept the
property back and I will do a deed from
it'll be from the Redbud Festival to us
I'll make that motion that we accept the
property back second
Miss Moorefield will it be any cost to
Russell County or your non-profit will
take care of everything right
thank you
okay so we have a motion and a second as
part of the
um County uh attorney's report
but David I appreciate you bringing that
out now while miss moorefield's here
I understand I knew where you were going
with that okay we have a motion in a
second and we've had some discussion any
more discussion
I'll call for the vote all in favor uh
any opposed
pose distensions motion carries we're
going to accept that property back thank
you very much
um by the way uh do we need to go ahead
and set while we're on this do we need
to go ahead and set that public hearing
um Miss Pat I would I would just go
ahead and and make a motion to set the
public hearing for whatever date the
board wants to have that on okay our
first date that we can do this by law is
what date Mr Lester
25th of October 25th of October what day
what day is that
it's a Tuesday
just made them chair I'll make that
motion if that's okay
to have that public hearing let me make
sure that that's right for conveying
property I know because that that would
only allow for one advertisement let me
just okay well I'll recuse my motion
until you confirm that
we can take that up under my report if
you want yeah I'll make the motion upon
the attorneys approval of the day we'll
let that ride until you get to your
report then thank you very much
next on the county agenda is a report
from the County Administrator This Is
the personal property tax relief and
credit
Mr Lester it's all yours
over here
and make sure everything is working
[Music]
could you hear Rebecca
captioning Board of Supervisors I like
let me go back everybody's looking at
the screen hang on
let's go back to the from beginning we
could start at the end
of course if I just want to thank you
um as is as we've said before of course
this is no
um
uh as it is not uh it's all known
throughout the county that our personal
property taxes has went out myself and
the of course the committee uh the
county staffs Treasurer Commissioner
Revenue Auditors other counties Baco we
have been looking at this you know since
the beginning of the new budget year
well and as I go through this these are
the circumstances and what we must
consider as a personal property tax
relief
okay okay thanks
so
as a personal property tax relief and
I'm trying to keep this simple to not
wait out in the weeds with all these
numbers and keep it short and sweet and
watch fire to Russell County Citizens
because first of all it's got to be
legal second it's got a personality and
third it's going to be fair and equal
because that's one of the concepts y'all
have
echoed y'all have replied over the years
whether it's a budget or it's a tax it's
got to be equal and fair and of course
we got to do it legally not and from an
Audi perspective because then we have to
answer to the authorities
so with legal concept
when when
on May the 2nd 2022 the board
supervisors came together because
governor of Virginia as you all know the
House and Senate could not come to an
agreement on the budget of course there
was many issues that were for the
housing as far as gas tax gas tax relief
and they were looking at various
taxations and tax rebates and tax
deductions so one of the things that of
course the house incident had a hard
time doing was come to an agreement so
the Board of Supervisors came together
and says okay due to the rate of
inflation what Russell County Citizens
are in County due to this we're going to
set the tax rates no tax rates are
included no tax increases are going to
happen and this is what we're going to
work at and this is going to how we're
going to set the budget whether or not
happens with the rate of inflation from
here on out we're going to have to live
with it we'll have to work with it as we
continue through whether it is a major
increase of what but we are setting the
tax rates so again the extension the tax
due date
what on on May the second came through
we had a public hearing and and we
approved the tax rates on May the 10th
as we came through this
so
as we set the tax rate we kept waiting
kept waiting on the state of Virginia
anybody read the newspaper turn on the
TV
look on your Facebook or whatever you
watch everyone knew that the state
Virginia was in a dilemma as far as the
budget and there were good budgets they
were working really hard to see what at
the state level why at the local levels
were best for the State Virginia
citizens so
on May the 5th on June the 15th we had
another public hearing and again we had
a public hearing and a budget workshop
on the 21st
then on the last day by the code of
Virginia right before the last day of
course we had a budget a public here in
Russell County did and we approved our
budget three hours after the state
Virginia governor came out and give us a
verbal we didn't have no data we just
approved it in the dark without any
numbers to back up any federal or state
numbers
so we knew what our local numbers were
going to want to be but we did not know
what the contribution from the feds
because all three of these equations
must work out to one as we do to work as
a whole for the Russell County Citizens
next and
end approving the budget this is one of
the topics that's available
and uh some of y'all may be aware of it
some of you may not but tonight you will
become aware
okay this is in the code of Virginia
since 1998. this is the personal
property tax relief the colleague the
pptra what this is is the state of
Virginia pays NADA and JD Powers about
approximately three million a year to do
an assessment the assessments on
personal property cars are not set by
the board supervisors they're not sent
by the Commissioner Revenue nor the
treasurer of Virginia I mean Russ Cannon
or the County Administrator
these assessments are done by J.D powers
paid by the state and are sent down to
all the counties municipalities and
cities this has fed into the Commission
of Revenue and then fed into the
treasurer these are where these asmets
come from under the pptra that was under
the budget consideration in the house
incident it was every year and and y'all
keep note on this especially the ones
that owns 20 000 cars or less this
relief is the cars Passenger cars
pickups SUVs panel trucks and
motorcycles whether you all need or
lease it whether but it has to be
non-business
and
on your personal vehicle so what that
applies to on your first twenty thousand
it says assessed value you get you're
subsidized by the state Virginia on that
last year in 2021 these are the numbers
that we were waiting on in 2021 it was
48 in Russell County so
when we were working with waiting on the
state Virginia on the first twenty
thousand they have proposed moving it up
to 25. hey that's a good thing hey that
gets more in the pool that's more we're
subsidized second thing that we were
looking at is are they going to mess
with the pptr rate some of them had
proposed increasing it because at the
time it was 48 in Russell County
so we kept waiting in the in early in
July middle of July those rates that
came down
well the state Virginia lowered our pptr
then increase it they took it from 48 to
37 that's 11 reduction of what we are
getting reimbursed for cars that are
under 20 000 and below that we were
getting before and that is a budget line
item where you account for it as a safer
line in the budget
in that range so in that range if we
look at the assets that we have the type
of cars y'all drive in between the cars
and the pickups and the rest
about 70 to 73 percent fall in you know
in between the range of 25 to 30 000 so
we had an enormous amount of cars today
and that range not to pick on anybody's
driving a big F-150 because everybody
knows what those are cost you're into 50
to 70 000 range
so what we had to do was look at and to
be fired to do the budget because when
we developed a budget we did not include
this great big increase that was
supposedly coming as a tax we didn't
because one we couldn't estimate it two
we the estimates that we use we can use
by law I can't use estimates I've got to
pay the bills so when we put the number
in the budget it's got to be real we
can't come back to the taxpayers at a
later date and says well we missed the
estimate by a couple million we're going
to have to raise your taxes or we're
going to have to do this we couldn't cut
enough services to cut to cover these
expenses
so
at and this I put in just for a ticket
and I'll explain more later
as a relief and I blocked this out if
you look at your tax deed
it says laser
everybody look there's three columns it
says the assessed value the assess tax
and the tax relief if it's 20 000 or
under you'll see a little why there that
says well not that I'm advocating for
everybody to go out and buy twenty
thousand dollars for this vehicles
you buy what you want but it's a car tax
a personal tax it's almost like a luxury
tax
if you buy a twenty thousand dollar
vehicle that's what the tax is going to
be whether it's an inflated year or not
if you buy it on a seventy thousand
dollar vehicle it's going to be that tax
on it whether you do or not
it is it's kind of a luxury tax so the
bigger vehicle that you buy now in the
personal property code
tax there is 17 different
classifications that's easy they say
well how much did you have in your
personal property line where you had 4
million well not really
in the person
in
[Music]
the walk around
thank you in your personal property to
cut tax codes there are 17 different
classifications from accept that number
I've got airplanes there's two in the
county
I've got airplanes campers CMI trailers
seeing my tractors Merchants Capital
vehicle trailers machine and tool cars
trucks SUVs and motorcycles
this is Vehicles over a thousand dollars
we also have a classification if y'all
didn't know it under a thousand dollars
in Russell County if it's thousand
dollar less your vehicle is whether it's
a car truck automobile motorcycle it's
tax exempt 100
. so
what is applicable to personal property
NADA and JD Power estimates
cars motorcycles SUVs now a lot of
counties that we were dealing with and
talking to vaco looking and many
conversations with them a lot of caught
a lot of other counties and
municipalities stayed with cars and
trucks they didn't even include the
motorcycles we did
we looked
at the count inventory into the personal
property we have 8097 cars as you can
see up there that's what those numbers
are
we have 18
000
200 324 trucks
the trucks outnumbered and that includes
the SUVs
next I have 968 motorcycles for a total
of 27 389 Vehicles that's in our
assessment and it's in the billing
now by the time we take out you know
Business Furniture semi-trailers
Merchants Capital which has its own
separate line
and
machine and tool we you say well how
much Business Furniture can you have
well let me tell you the estimate in
Business Furniture Loan in the personal
property it's a million and a half
dollars
that's right so if you're including the
4.1 let's take out a million five in
furniture by itself that's it's that it
doesn't mean what we're going to collect
because remember this is an assessment I
cannot use those numbers
next
what we looked at was other counties
we've had conversations all over the
state Virginia what everybody has done
everybody knows that Washington County
passed a 13 percent
tax reduction ratio it was 13 percent
off their assessed value after three
times
first time they tried to make it
political well we're going to do 30
percent we're going to do 24.
well they did so they went to the Board
of Supervisors the board supervisors
keep the decals well that was sounded
good right
well by the time they did the decals
then came back they forgot 9 000 people
so the board supervisors had to hold a
special meeting just to kick it down not
from 30 not from 24 to 13 with 42 000
views remember we only got 27 000.
so
Tazewell County 10 percent
38 000 cars these are the population
numbers that you see over here on the
farrak hall
Washington County on September the 29th
Tazewell County on August the 29th
Smith County 15 well that sounds like a
lot well they did but there's you got to
know how they come to that number
first they raise the trash pickup in the
landfill taxes so they thought they
would give a bigger break on the
property tax to give back where they
raise the other taxes
Pulaski County seven percent that's it
Bristol City ten percent of course you
see Scott County has done nothing Lee
County has done nothing Dickson County
Buchanan wise and will have done nothing
it is not like the Russell County is
behind the eight ball on this we said on
this money we did not include this money
we did not appropriate this money hello
issue of of using it later for any other
purpose but we have to get to the real
number
now what is that real number is the key
so
in the audit again
we have to look at audit requirements
the pptra what's being subsidized for
cars under 20. how many do we have we
are a rural area I can't do Annapolis
and apples comparison with
an urban area like Radford Washington
you understand we gotta we got to know
what cars and trucks what to buy you are
what the ages are because nobody in this
room
because it has the same car at the same
value so that I got 27 000 to evaluate
and what the tax is so
next
on the assessed values in the tax
tickets assessed values again
if I'd used it last year I've been 700
000 in the whole
and I'll be coming back to the Board of
Supervisors asking for it if I use the
tax stickers to go out
that includes all the taxes on all the
personal property all the furniture I
can't use it because you got to carve
out just those three classifications of
the 17.
I can't use estimates because I got to
pay the bills I got to write a check I
got to write make sure Russell County
stays within budget we have done for the
last eight years
so then abatement DMV write-offs as as a
commissioner of Revenue treasure will
tell you there's a big portion that is
cut off abatements in DMV okay and then
you believe it or not not to be
facetious people don't pay their taxes I
got delinquency I got a delinquency rate
in this County of 15 percent
I also have a default in this County
they don't pay them at all so what
number we come to has got to include all
these factors
next
real cash reserves on June 30th bylaw
the Board of Supervisors under the code
of Virginia when it pays this bill we
shut down at midnight
that has to be done we got to work off
of cash reserves not an estimate not a
projection not a billable but real
numbers
I here's another one it was thrown up
and ask
can we use other taxes for the rebate
well no you can't you who in here wants
to give up their real estate to pay for
an F-150 or somebody else's on the car
can't do it don't want to do it it's not
legal I can't take real estate to pay
for a personal property tax rebate
rebate defile Revenue shortages of
course we run short on the revenue we
don't collect enough we give too big of
a rebate
the end we've got to notify by the our
authors will notify the council public
Auditors and that which turns around and
notifies the Attorney General's office
the bottom line is this the rebate
cannot exceed your Revenue
so
of all this in assessments and numbers
and talking with a different methods the
different counties vaco and the rest
what is the right thing to do what is
the magic number
so our attention again we can give away
100 of it but we got to make sure we do
it within our guidelines not that we
have intended on keeping it but intent
of doing it correctly and legally and
so
in the board of supervisor's motion
for a calendar year remember personal
property taxes on the counter years so
you can't do it on a fiscal year it's
going to be from January to December
the tax rate is set in this year in
calendar year 22 when they said it in
May is for this calendar year it will
not be available in January it's only
calendar year basis not a fiscal year
basis
so the motion of the board supervisor
should read you know of course see why
for County year FY 22 proper personal
property taxi leave assessment for
automobiles trucks SUVs and motorcycles
non-business
you got to hold the public hearing
whether you do a reconvene special or
you do it at the November 22 because I
have to now here comes the legal
component which I didn't do in in July
I got to do a budget of Me by law I got
to move that money in it's got to go on
the books then it becomes real money
resolution Amendment a county operating
budget which you will see here in a few
seconds
you got to change we want to change the
personal property tax the extent sorry
change the personal property tickets due
date
from November the 28th
2022 to December the 22nd that gives the
County residents more time to pay it
[Music]
okay next on the next requirement there
will be the personal property rebate
program will be terminated on December
22nd it's applicable only to this year
all eligible rebates will be issued
residents after the December 31st 2022
within 90 days
but one of the things you've got to
remember is the rebates are only
eligible for residents that pay their
full tax liability you do not want us to
use our taxpayers money
for people that do not pay their taxes
and give them a rebate
I don't think so
so my recommendation to the board after
all these considerations and all these
17 different classifications the laws of
their regulations the audience
and many discussions with the other
counties
I'm recommending a 90 personal property
tax assessment value reduction
that is my recommendation of course the
Board of Supervisors
can do what they want it's their choice
it's a 10 percent it's nine percent of
assessed value
if there's a balance that's remaining
then to board the supervisors
can next in next tax year adjust that
other assessment to reflect that to make
sure it's turned over but we got to make
sure by the off of this one what we
collect who pays
what we collect is taken care of if we
have a surplus then we're fine then we
can move that into the next calendar
year and we can adjust the assessed
value by that excess money if you're in
a deficit then we're going to have to
scramble because if we gave away more
than what we're saying then we've got to
make it up and it's hard to get up who
we cannot come to y'all because we made
the promise we weren't raising taxes we
would operate within our means and
that's the way we have continued
so again
here is
the resolution
that is written for the 90 assessment of
it again it's the Board of Supervisors
Kyle
well if I don't have technical
difficulties
I'm gonna have to go here sorry about
that
very good
foreign
okay again
the legal way to do it I've got to do a
budget amendment it's going to be
defined by the code of Virginia if we
move our budget within one percent for
the during the fiscal year it must be
passed
and it must be passed legally by the
full board and we've got to hold the
public hearing
so that's
the requirements on the code of Virginia
I'm proposing a 10 percent if but that's
what
ten percent of what
it it's quite a 90 figure tax value are
you saying you're proposing to use 90 of
the assessed value yes sir yes
I've got a question uh yeah can you hear
me why wasn't this provided to us for
review so we could kind of get this in
our mind what this actually does before
you present it tonight because I it's
the first time I've seen it yeah yeah
and you have
I'm gonna dangerous this thing I mean
you throw a bunch of information out
here that I haven't changed I understand
it's my knowledge people with Russell
Penn didn't lick you to the Board of
Supervisors oh okay
this I'm just making as a recommendation
well I'm I'm telling you that I'm a
little disturbed about the whole process
by the fact there was a letter came out
in March of
25. didn't get I found out about one of
my constituents asked me about it I said
I ain't seen it
oh no oh no wrong answer
was in a packet I finally found it but
all the stuff it wasn't in the stuff
that you put online
that letter was not in there in the May
10th that's correct it wasn't in there
I gave it to the Board of Supervisors we
handed it out in a packet you slipped it
in the packet a packet that I didn't
look at a packet that I have
[Music]
but the problem is this
it it was in the world
when it was given to us we went through
the budgets this letter went out
throughout the whole state
he died just from one commission Revenue
ever it went out through Baco and the
rest so here's the thing about it is I
clued it into budget but again a lot of
counties did not use it
the the reason is again I can't use lead
legal I can't legally use assessments
again we're back to the fictitious why
would I emphasize to the Board of
Supervisors something that I knew that
was not material and it could not now
put it in the packet as FYI information
but I could not when we came down to our
budget this is
Board of supervisor members and County
Administrator yes
didn't see it this day March 25th
didn't see it until I was told it was
there and I finally went back and looked
through all the online agenda wasn't
there then I finally found this on the
May 18th it's like you're trying to slip
it in on us you know
and I didn't even look at this board
meeting I'd already what I did is I'd
get pulled a thing up line online read
it all and make notes and I bring that
to the meeting I didn't even you know
how many times do we ever get a packet
like that and that was the day six weeks
after the letter went out and the day we
were setting tax rates if we had had an
opportunity to look at this beforehand
we might have had an opportunity to look
at some of this some of this information
who else had access to that later I'm
I'm certainly the budget committee had
it well every one of the Board of
Supervisors got a copy of it
yes wow that's pretty sad for the budget
committee to get it on May 18th well it
isn't like we wait a minute
as far as far as the Board of
Supervisors during this time we were
going even at the May meeting we we were
sitting and waiting again on the state
budget
we were trying to figure out what they
were doing we didn't know what
contribution and if this what kind of
Major Impact this would have
that came out like I said on March 25th
in commission Revenue that's fine I
couldn't use a number in that legally
Legally I'm sitting here arguing I can't
legally use a paper I can't use those
numbers so he didn't really put any
numbers he said there's just going to be
somewhere around the 24 percent increase
in the valuation of the vehicles and he
said you need to look at doing something
he gave three options
you know ing about it after the tax rate
sit eliminated one of those options you
know to adjust the tax rate if we'd
known about it we might have been able
to do a one-time adjustment of the tax
rate to get it down you know somewhere
where it was a
but you know you're saying that the the
assessment
on the vehicles raised it was over 28 I
think
in looking at it it's like 20 a 28
increase and that's certainly because
some people bought new vehicles and
but the only ones I had to look at are
my personal vehicles over two years my
truck was worth four thousand dollars
more my wife's car this past year it's
worth four thousand dollars more and
that's you know that's just courtesy of
the people in Washington DC
inflationary practice
well as y'all can see here from the
other counties what there's been nobody
acting I'm not really care about the
other County I I don't even need these
examples I think the public needs to
know
what what we're going to do for Russell
County I could care lesson
I'm good I talked to the supervisor in
Grayson County and they're basically in
the same boat we're in
and but they did go back
they gave what
I can't remember what it was now
25 50 rebate right
well I can I can go through the the real
numbers like I said carve out what is
applicable I can go back out let me ask
you that four thousand that four million
Thirty one thousand dollar figure that
we carried over what is included in that
is that all-purpose on property
on
on in the budget in your budget yes four
million Thirty one thousand dollars
listed under purple personal property
yes that that was a budget number for
last year and for this year yes what is
included in that what kinds of personal
property that's 17 classes of all 17
classes see when you
when you look and I'll bring this up
okay
ah
let me bring it up here
okay
last year
if I use the assessment numbers
this is from this estimate from the
Commission of Revenue 2021 all 17
different classifications okay
now if I look at just the three
classifications of cars motorcycles and
trucks it's about 4.8 million dollars by
itself
right three classifications with a total
assessed at gross at 8.5 million
devaluation
no I'm talking total due if we look if
you look at this
yes the assessment
So based off of these if I'd used these
numbers last year I had 4.1 million we
missed it by one percent
I had 8.5
total in aggregate if I carved out the
three classifications that would be in
4.8 million in assessment value
I wouldn't at any point in life but but
the point is this Steve
I didn't Clique before 0.1 including all
17 of them
where am I going to make this up if I
stick before the Board of Supervisors
give you such a variance and say yes
this is going to make it but it's not
going to
I've got to keep when we did the budget
and we go to the financial reports
these are it here it is
when we do the estimate on the personal
property this is the real number that
was given to the Auditors the Auditors
have audited it
that's 4.1 million that employer
personal property includes all of those
line items and said Machine and Tool
Merchants capital and and mobile homes
I can't come to the 8.5 million out of
4.1 and number two when we estimated it
within this budget I went within 1.5
percent of these estimates right there
is the bottom line
get by 1.5 percent not 8.5 million not
if I just I'm throwing I'm putting in
the mobile homes too
that's that's what I had to carve out
there used to be classifications to make
the numbers work
you know the assessment for all the
vehicles alone
yeah it was it was five last year we
didn't we didn't get that
we didn't get close
if we don't do anything
after we take out 28 okay
right uh
okay now I did the same thing here's 22.
now here's the three classes
yeah so that was 21 I was looking at to
make sure that when you seen that I was
estimated 4.1 that was solid within one
percent of the movement now in 2022 we
got if I take these three
classifications carbonate based off the
assessed value
the sales tax do it's it's six million
three eighty four
9 13 43 those are the three
classifications that given based on
the these each individual ion estimate
so if I take 30 40 38 28 off of it which
you know is right around the range if
everybody pays on time
everything is done well if we can
classify what is new what is used the
type of vehicles the age of vehicles Etc
so take 30 percent off of 6.3 million
what is your net
worth
talking about the budget year ending 22
June 22 5.6 million dollars and you've
had a 28.27 allowance for
non-collectible it's like a million and
a half eighty nine thousand dollars
and that's how you arrived at the 4
million 31 000 here I understand all
that and then you collected 26 885 more
than that which was less than one
percent less one percent okay
then if you do the personal property
assessment
this year
I'm looking at 7.2 million dollars
you apply that same percentage
that 28.27 for uncollectibles
and you end up with five point one
million dollars
and and I'm not saying you need to use
that number right you know we balance
the budget with four million Thirty one
thousand dollars that's correct and we
scrambled around
did all this stuff now
so here if I look this is 2020. yes I
guess what I'm really trying to say if
we don't do something fairly sizable
we're going to end up with them a
tremendous inflationary windfall like
like 1.2 million dollars
well more than what we had budgeted
I'm mine 1.2 mine was 950 000. that's
about 10 that that's that mine mine was
950 000. I did you just when you kick on
if you take a look now that was a
recommendation because I got to watch to
make sure that we're so far into the
game that you don't go over and then
we're answering to the Auditors but if I
take those three line items there this
is 2022 oh my grows I've got 6.384 okay
take 27 out of that if I calculate all
of the depreciations all the D files all
the abatements the payables the ones on
time which you know it's the same number
as I came at to get within one percent
that's 1.7 million dollar reduction
Now give me a net
I don't know I just I just had to sit
down and look at this one and that's
fine here's here's what my
recommendation was Steve you know not to
be disrespectful to the board or the
audience
we got to have a public hearing we got
time I this is only a recommendation by
me because I'm trying to protect you and
the board in the county season I can't
spend more than a mate because I can't
take it from anybody else to stop saying
you're trying to protect me the board
well this is nothing to protect the
board well I'm trying to do the right
thing and come to the right I'm
interested in trying to see if we can
put money back into the pockets of some
of the people I mean it's a terrible
time right now inflation is horrible and
you see it every day when you go to the
grocery store a local bread it used to
cost three dollars is now four something
I agree I mean it's it's just horrible
and people I know their incomes have an
increased accordingly uh we're very in
instead of doing a credit or whatever
and a plan it's next year we need to try
to see if we can put some money back in
their pocket I agree well my
recommendation would have been I don't
know if you could have done it illegally
is just uh
hailed the personal property froze it
until we got this figured out because
everything that I've heard's you know
been delayed delayed delay so we didn't
know what the actual numbers we should
have froze the personal property and
then figured it out that way all the tax
tickets now we're gonna have to pay more
people the taxpayers are going to have
to pay to send more statements out or
either credits and what we should have
done the recommendation should have been
to froze it if you could legally until
we figured it out and then we wouldn't
be sitting here having this discussion
well like I said you know we what we
could have done is not pass tax rate and
just extended the tax deadline out I
think you can go 90 days
I'm not sure but anyhow y'all gotta
remember during the this was an
inflationary period the governor didn't
even know what to do
the governor couldn't even get in
together until June the 29th we were
waiting on those pptr rates which was
reduced to even calculate what we had
done once you set that tax rate it is on
a calendar year basis
that is it that that's all well and good
but Randy knew in October the 25th he
was talking to other people and he was
saying that there was going to be an
increase of some sort
and we we took no action for like six
weeks we just sat on it
maybe you didn't but the Board of
Supervisors did they weren't they
weren't aware of it well and that's
right but and and that'd be made may be
by mistake
look at the rest of the counties like I
said nobody was pulling the trigger
quick because they wanted to see what
the real effect was because if what that
pptr equates to is 1.4 million dollars
if the governor was going to raise the
base from the 22 to 25 if they were
going to raise that percentile of the
pptr above the 48 that's what our County
was last year they took it down to 37.
if we were going to get it how was you
going to calculate it what tax rate
would you have said what assessment rate
would you have said I'm not saying you
could even do that you're saying we need
to be aware of it before May the 10th
you know and not even then you know
you know for some of us
well I can tell you Washington County
pulled a trigger three times and did it
all wrong
if you get too fast you get you get you
get errors what I've tried to do now is
to make sure it was fair it was equal
and it was legal we can guarantee these
numbers now that's my number I think if
you use a 90 assessment rate and
everybody pays you're reducing your I
guess what is the 90 of the value well
and that's one of the things that you
got to be careful because we wanted to
be fair when we sit over we've worked on
these for over you know months sitting
there and looking at this because see
what you got to understand is
is who's worked on this for months I
have because I have I mean I know I
didn't know nothing about it well once
it had said it but let me once
here is the ones it's under the pptr the
ones that have value over for twenty
thousand below you're getting subsidized
by the 37 percent now okay now the ones
that is over the this third to twenty
thousand you're paying the full amount
195. you're paying that full amount so
how do you how you would you come to the
equation to be fair
isn't the first 20 000 On All or small
Vehicles the first twenty thousand yes
is assessed at 145 times
that 30 Cent is correct there's a butt
though and that which matches out is
about 170 dollars
yeah well and here's the way it equates
out into our books now when it was said
in 19 the state reimburses you for the
difference between that that number and
the 195. no what the state reverses re
reimburses us on in 1998 when the
legislation passed the pptra ACT our tax
rate was 145 in in Randy everybody in
Treasure speaker if I speak wrong I
apologize 145 on 100 that has not
changed
the legislators iocated 950 million they
have froze that since 1998. this year
due to the rate of inflation we were
waiting on June the 29th for the
governor that was one of the things that
they were had consideration was the
change of the base rate or the change of
the pptr to help the residents in the
state of Virginia due to the rig the
cost of inflation on vehicles to help
them out more well we kept waiting and
we waited
on the 29th we still didn't have it you
couldn't have passed it what was it
going to pass I couldn't pass a tax rate
I couldn't pass the assessment rate well
I think you do exactly what you've got
now you do it based on 145 and you would
adjust when you get the the new number
okay I thought that too so let me give
you the other side
you got to have both equations
now if we go back and give assessment
whether it's 10 15 or 20. now we we just
talked with the authors of the day and
then both of them are looking at them
they know what I'm saying
you say when you give an assessment
15 20 is that a reduction in these yeah
yeah buy the code so if I no matter what
number I use those vehicles that are 20
000 and below if we kick in a 10 it
reduces that assessed value right well
it also reduces your pptr down so your
PT PTR so I'm look we will lose on the
pptr rate at the same time that we're
losing on the assessed value so if we go
down 10 I'll use that as my number
because that's what we've learned we
plug the numbers into the system
the 20 the cars there are 20 000 endless
on the assessed value plus the relief
which I've got here
well the way the way it is calculated on
the tax stick if they take whatever the
assessed value is divided by a hundred
times 1.95 that's your tax then they
calculate the tax relief based on the
145 and 145 and then you subtract that
from the total and that's your net tax
due yes now here here is a tax ticket
I'm gonna get a Dapper come on computers
all right one mine out looking at it all
right have you I have looked at so many
I went from twenty thousand below a
thousand five thousand fifty thousand
and look now when and I've used this and
I've blacked it out this one has tax
relief on it
here's the assessed values forty two
hundred dollars based off the Neda again
the state Virginia not the Board of
Supervisors not the commissioner of
Revenue not treasure not the County
Administrator set that number there
that's done by the state of Virginia
today I I that they're paying three
million dollars a year they
thank you
so our sales tax rate is 195 on 100. so
that's based off the 42.9 now their tax
relief if it's in under qualify tax
relief yes if it's under 20 000 that is
the amount of 22.96 based off the 1998
rate of 1.45 cents per the 100. now if
we takes that tax rate down and you can
run the numbers while we're sitting here
talking take that down 10 428 dollars it
will change the assess rate and it will
change that tax relief rate too what we
are reimbursed
but I understand but I'm trying to get I
got 27 386 cars to deal with so we're
trying to figure out what's the fair
number
it's not a simple formula
it's it's hard to be fair that's all I'm
saying I'm trying to do is to be fair
when we present this now if the Board of
Supervisors wants to push the envelope
that's y'all's choice if y'all want to
push it up I'm just going to tell you
what other counties did now for example
we use 90 what is the total
Vehicle Tax
and even really these
well what did they come to in money 950
000.
that's a 950 000 reduction
yes
that was
how much does it generate oh
yes it'd be nine times that
maybe I'm okay explain
what is the total assessment what is
that 4 million 35 I mean what is the how
much how much tax is that 90 of the
assessed value generate not how much
we've used it we've already done 10 of
evidence right what does that generate
what above what our 4.1 mean
so you see okay so here here is if we
take the 4.1 because y'all very budgeted
dedicated that to operations I cannot
expand that use it so if I take 950 000
I'm saying
5.15 at the rough rate you see what I'm
saying
you're saying that
that see it generates
so
no way man
that's everything though you can't
include everything in the ticket you you
got to take the business first you've
got three classifications the total says
value is three point this total gross
was 36.3
take 27 off
no amen
it's I'm talking that would be the
refund back to the citizens
I'm sorry
I'm trying to get mad and Steve's turned
on correct
so
that's what I did say Steve what's the
relief number what what 10 so what's my
number I like it well I know I mean I'm
just saying what's the number based off
my other counties what we've collected
what we used I'm looking at what's the
number 10 what is that equivalent to
okay
about
1.15 give or take that's about what
you'll be giving back you know
let me go back to these
because my technology can keep up with
me
all right here's the real numbers
and these are the numbers I have to deal
with
okay
you got three classifications cas
Els and trucks if you add those three up
at six million three hundred and eighty
four thousand nine hundred thirteen
dollars forty three cents that's as you
see that is the the assessment of 2022
ran on
August the 24th
that's right now close enough
now in that
six million three hundred eighty four
dollars we got to look at those
things that affect that gross number
that's gross because like I said this is
what I had last year on estimate I was
supposed to collect
4.8 million just off of cars well I
didn't click but 4.1 million on
everything and you say how much Business
Furniture again 1.5 million
so I that has no effect on this bottom
number right now on the assessment of
all of the taxes is 10 million
but I can't use that number we have
never hit that number before
foreign
if we take six million
and take off the delinquencies the
abatements
the defaults
the ones that pay it on time the pptr
reductions
even if I come at the low number
a six million three eighty four
9 13.
if I can go at a 20 just estimate which
we know in default that's 1.276
.
at six million dollars
which if we won't hit that number so
that would be 1.9 million we can't come
at that number at the high end gross and
I know that many of them put it out at
the high end
before you do it you're probably looking
at 1.5 million that's the gross then you
got to account for all those different
classifications carbon amount no
non-pays deductibles defaults to get to
the real number okay let me this just
for the General Public
say you had your taxes doubled and I got
a lot of calls people said they doubled
so with
what you're projecting say you have one
customer and it doubled what would they
be getting back
it's based off the assessment
so I mean I'm just saying so it went up
four hundred dollars
is it under 20 000 below above
so so I I mean you're you're referring
to the 20 000 below consistently but
most of what the people I've been
talking to
sixty seventy thousand dollar fifty
thousand dollar Vehicles man but that's
not real you got 73 are in that range in
this County that's the real numbers
everybody that has a big vehicle must be
talking to you
because I can tell you right now the
ones that's 20 and Below ain't they're
not gonna I'm not having that well I
know I'm talking about the ones that say
50 60 000 vehicle
well
if you we use the assessment just for
trucks the assessment on the current
value
of 257 million seven hundred and forty
eight thousand dollars for a total of 18
324 trucks
generates 5 million and thirty six
thousand dollars
and you're saying the abatements
now
here's Steve what would be pulled off of
that yeah if based off 250 257 million
748 57 the assessed value is 5 million
26 130 74. right that's exactly right
that's that's where I'm going with this
okay
yeah it seems to be again why is it
reduced so much okay you're saying the
four point
four million dollar figure okay if
that's only a part of the four million
dollars figure if I use what we did last
year and use the same base numbers
right I'm going to use CA
c y and TKS all those three
classifications
here's what I'm saying
if I went off those three assessments
last year alone I would have collected
4.8 million that doesn't clean machine
until the rest
just off the cars we did not collect
that we didn't collect 4.1 out of our
level I thought that was taken into
consideration and when you that's what I
said reduce the amount that 28 reduction
to get to that 41 .1 B I had to cut to
get that that 28 damn I had to take what
was base this year 2021 go to 2022 and
use the variables apply those components
of abatements
delinquencies in defaults and pptra
see
your numbers are matching mine these
three would have equaled four but this
is year 2021 last year you know why we
clicked it I was within one percent
I would have collected 4.8 just off of
those three numbers I didn't think I
understand it so how can I use this big
inflated number in 22 to give y'all an
estimate
of 6.3 million dollars
I'm I guess what I'm saying is if we
only collected 4.1 million dollars okay
out of that last year well here it is
well
I again that's why I can't by law you
spectatious numbers assessments or
assessments I can't use them the numbers
do not work
right here it is there's a machine and
tool Merchants Capital you see how those
are carved out you you look at these
numbers often Steve I know you do
again you added them up you had the
right number I've only clicked it and
that personal property current process
and that includes the delinquency tax
too
if I added both of these up reality real
dollars in the bank
June 30th 4.115
not that's not the 4.8 June 30th of last
year yes so can you give us those
numbers to look here I mean can we see
it I just need to understand this
because none of it makes sense only
thing I'm trying to do and if I add up
all the tax Getters last year their
total tax assessment was 8.4 million
dollars you've seen that you've got
those days but if I add up what really
was collected
it was actually 5.278
678. that's it
I'm not at the 8 million dollar range
that's Machining tool mobile home
I'm not concerned I think all we're
talking about here the things that
really inflated were the vehicles that's
great it's lining up right here
you know I know that see right there
personal property and Delinquent Tax
those are your two light items I should
have had if I used the estimate I should
have collected just alone by itself not
including 1.5 million in Business
Furniture
airplanes Utility Trailers Rest and
grows should have been 8.5 million I'm 4
million off
you've got the numbers
apparently somebody's not playing for
their airplane
well I only got two in the county
and this was not a big part today we
could break them down for you
but what I'm trying to do is we did as
the more supervisors y'all have always
been conservative you have not raised
taxes in eight years
if I'd had thrown it up or if I could
have estimated it
you can't account for it so they went
like you were hiding some are going to
use it because you didn't include it in
your budget
I guess what we're coming down to
is those people who actually pay the
taxes are going to suffer because of the
people that don't pay the taxes
well and that's why we're going to have
to keep those
houses well and that was one of the
things I put into the butt if if Okay so
let's use this scenario hypothesis or
theory on this scenario
so if we take this number and add a
million to it it's 5.2 million dollars
if I go 950 to a million within range
we take that to 5.2 that's a million
dollars right there
if you have extra say two three hundred
thousand left over
at the end of the year in after
everybody that pays their gets the
rebates if you pay you get to rebound if
there's a surplus deal with it in
calendar year 23.
adjust the rate another percentile to
take care of that you're not trying to
keep your money keep everybody in the
money to pay this year
well if we extend the dates give us time
the rebates will come fast Alicia and I
I mean I'm not going to throw her in the
bus but one of the things they did we
we have talked with Bryant it's a simple
move they can kick it into the system
and it may take us about 30 days and I'm
I'll dedicate all the staff I can to
make this as seamless as possible
well you can't give a credit because I
thought about that that was my first
scenario but the Auditors told me that I
can't do it because they're going across
calendar years
tax rates are on a calendar year basis
so you can't extend one into the other
and then it gets into the theology but
you you could give a rebate equivalent
to a certain
reduction in texture you you can use
that scenario but I was trying to get
the dollars back into the pockets into
the residence pockets as fast as
possible
well you know the fact that we've
we've already set the tax rates that's
some of the options yeah it does
and Wendy well you know I'm not I'm not
prepared to vote on anything until I
understand what you've done here
I'm you're a numbers guy I'm a numbers
guy you know I just don't understand
this it's almost like a witch doctor
but I want to sit down I want to look at
that I want you to explain to me maybe
with Alicia and Randy because and I can
understand this thing I thought I
understood part of it but with all these
uh adjustments and
and
I thought that 28 was the only thing
that you adjusted back out
um no so
and I thought the four million dollar
figure certainly included more
than just Vehicles you know I mean it
you see the numbers that if I use the 17
classifications and the total aggregate
of the S the assessment it blows me out
you know I don't classifications that
you have are all included in that four
million dollar figure is that correct
except for except for the mobile home
Machinery tool
right and I've got them here it's in our
budget we have to do that by law in the
merchants capital
B17
all right if you asked Randy's office
even the ones that are thousand and
Below we still have if you'll look those
are tax exempt but they're still in your
assessment as an as a dollar figure
right okay that's about 2 million
well I don't know how many you've got of
those I mean
I mean I would be glad to sit down
okay and go Dollar by dollars so
tomorrow after I get back from a doctor
thank you
okay board
um we have listened to Mr Lester thank
you by the way for that report
uh it was grueling and and we're all on
overload but we understand that this is
necessary for the public to understand
as much as they possibly can and as much
as I can
um so what I'm looking for right now is
emotion
that we can have a public hearing so
that we can uh go through these numbers
and look at the proposal for the county
um so I'm I'm looking for that have I
got one out there somewhere I will make
that motion based on Katie helping write
this because I did not know the Virginia
Coast
so she helped uh draft this and this
will give us a public hearing for the
public to uh we can help them out I make
a motion to sip the public hearing to
amend the County's budget pursuant to
Virginia code section
15.2-2507 and to advertise the proposed
amendment considered with the
information contained in the draft
resolution that he presented by the
County Administrator and we will and we
Steve I think you do need to sit down we
all need to sit down I want I want 10.
I'll second that motion just for just
for a discussion person are you saying
we can't change it from that 90 figure
no I'm saying you can do any amount you
want okay okay that was staph
of what the real assessment word the
real dollars were what we had collected
minus the the variables to get to that
number to protect the county if you had
a surplus then give it away next year
but you protected yourself yes we had we
had staff recommendation on this and I
think it's very thorough and I
appreciate Mr bringing forward a motion
and Steve you seconded it for discussion
purposes as long as as long as that
number can be changed I'm okay that's
only a recommendation that is that is
Staff recommendation so that we don't go
to the poor house on one side and we're
not rich on the other side so we want to
make sure that we're exactly where we
need to be for the auditor's sake
and for uh Ms McLaughlin who
told me today she was pretty good with
this also I think right Elation I'm
putting you on the spot there is room
for discussion we're leaving
room for discussion so we need to just
just
okay board we need to decide the date uh
the proper date uh Ms Patton I think you
were going to look that up to make sure
we were within our guidelines
that related to the other
um issue but you can say that you can
set that hearing for the same date too
the earliest that you could set the
estate would be October 25th because it
does have to be advertised in the
newspaper it has to be advertised at
least seven days prior to the meeting
with where the public hearing is held
so that would be the earliest date if we
were going to advertise it in the
Lebanon news because it won't come out
until next Wednesday
okay so while we're in discussion get
your calendars out
it's the 20 is the 25th good for this
board
it is on a Tuesday
25th six o'clock
you want to add that to your we don't
need to add that to their motion do we
or do yes we do have to have emotions
Lonzo gave me that date earlier but if
it comes out on Wednesday when we have
to be seven days we would need to hold
it that Wednesday so that would be the
26th
correct that is the seventh day 25th he
is the seventh so
see the paper legally comes out on
Tuesday yes
yes
right Ernie yeah we've got this it says
at least seven days prior to the meeting
date so I think you I think you're 26
would have to be
26 um
because it says prior okay I see I see
what you're saying
all right
we have a motion and a second we've been
in discussion I'm going to call for the
vote all in favor
I personally
would like to do like some of the other
counties did nothing if we can do that
legally and I say let's go that route
to do nothing the other counties
well if we do nothing then we're they're
the assessments
if we do nothing worse then
then we're everybody's went hey based on
the assessments that came out
we've already done that it's already tax
tickets have already gone out
had to change so we have to go with the
assessment
that that is not out that's out of our
hands all we can do at this point in
time would be the issue a rebate of some
sort
puts us close to whatever that four
million dollar figure is
since our budget was based on four
million dollars we need to try to reduce
the tax burden enough to hit that four
million dollar fee
well we're not going to help anything in
excess of that ought to go back
and and we
read that we have to give them their
money back you can't you can't you can't
do a tax credit for next year you have
to go ahead you have to we have to
decide on what percent and how much and
when the date we'll give it back and
Alicia is about 30 days to take care of
all this
or thereabouts time just fence
okay yeah
so we'll give them a reason
because you're going across multiple
years each year the board of supervisor
has to set that tax rate
Mr Williams
if you want something to be seen by all
the Board of Supervisors you need to
send it to them individually from now on
we've learned to listen
okay thank you I appreciate what you did
let me let me speak to that
yes sir
number one
this county has never been here before
the economy and the shape of our country
and with a situation with our leadership
we have never been here before
there's something that this bridge has
never been crossed
but I say to you today
I did send the letter
I sent it to the town as well
so the letter went out and it is my
letter there was some question about
that
this came to my attention by NADA fako
and I shared it but anyway
I'm sure we can do things different in
the future we've learned I guess
what happens sometimes when we don't
communicate
but anyway
I would encourage
you all to at least tell these people
tonight
I mean they need to know are you going
to do something
I mean they need to hear that from their
board are you going to do something
because they're going to continue to pay
taxes
people are still coming in paying taxes
and nothing's been done
I would encourage you to give them
some kind of encouragement or tell them
what your plans are I know you're going
to have a hearing but let them know
you're going to do something to help
them that's why they're here tonight
they're concerned I'm concerned
and uh but anyway any other questions
well I just like to say thank you Randy
and uh people that's called me
people that's yeah thank you Randy uh
and Alicia uh people that's called me
you know and I'll tell you
if you don't have a heart you
something's wrong because they're
picking between their medication
their bills and food groceries
everything's went out the roof like
Randy said it's absolutely ridiculous
and I'm committed to give a rebate
absolutely I want to see everything over
and above what it takes to get that four
million dollar number to go back to the
people the tax base that's what I wanted
to hear from that's what I that's what
I'm for some of them I thought I knew
how we did it but I'm
I'm we can get there and we can do
whatever it takes to help you do
whatever y'all decide to do we'll help
you get there but the board has to
decide what you want to do I appreciate
it I think I think it needs to be a team
effort any input
yes any any guidance you can give us I'm
open you you know anything that you guys
as far as recommendations to how we get
from point A to point B I'm willing to
go in that direction and and get to that
magic number to where we need to be
Randy uh the people is going to have to
have relief like you said we didn't do
this the board didn't do this we didn't
create this uh it's just uh it's a beast
of its own and it's and it looks to me
like it's gonna get worse before it gets
better and we're gonna have to do
something to help our citizens in this
County to survive until we can get
Beyond some of these we'll survive and
we'll get back on our feet but we're
it's it's rough right now it really it's
tough if you would have seen what Lisa
and I and these girls have seen in the
last two weeks the situations of people
coming in
and trying to pay their taxes
when they didn't have it and that's
going to continue while you guys are
trying to get this fixed so
that's still going to be a hardship on
people for a while but we'll work
through it we will Russell County's
tough we work through the hardship that
I see now is that everybody's going to
pay that high rate exactly where they
can get a rebate yeah you know
so you know we we could have avoided
that I believe we could have but yeah
but it's too late now
I'll shut it all right
okay are we out of discussion now
we're ready to take the vote that we are
going now let me ask inside that
recommendation and resolution was a 10
was 10 percent
you want to you want to let that go
I won't I don't want to block it in at
10 that's the question no we didn't say
we were going to do that it was my
understanding that we might move with 10
and and move forward when we got the
real numbers out of that
did I misunderstand I don't we don't
want the 10 in there no we don't want to
keep sand in there
I don't want to lock anything in until
we figure it out wait a minute the the
code just says that yeah she just she
hadn't walked anything
okay
and even if you did even even if you did
advertise and that you were going to
amend the County's budget by that
resolution and that 10 you're not locked
into that figure you just have to give
the public notice of what your intention
is you could you know you could deviate
by a little now if you were going to go
from 10 to 50 I would say that wouldn't
be okay but if it's I think as long as
the public has Fair notice of what is
being considered by the board then you
complied with the code section
thank you Miss Patton
all right I have a motion in a second
any further discussion
all in favor
any opposed
any abstentions motion carries
public hearing 25th 26 what was it 26
it's Wednesday night October 26 here six
o'clock
foreign
are we still in discussion Katie gonna
be the 25th or the 26th 26th because
it'll it'll be in the Lebanon news on
that Wednesday that's when the people
will get it and it says that it must be
seven days prior to the meeting so
okay we're moving on to uh new business
so I need approval of the minutes that's
before you
I'll make that motion all right I have a
motion I need a second a second I have a
second to approve the minute it's all in
favor
any posed
um I'll take an extension from you Mr
Ray
he was absent
all right
um motion approved
um approval of expenditures
we have to pay the bills I need a motion
for that please
I'll make that motion again I have a
motion to approve the expenses I need a
second
second thank you Mr Lovelace okay uh any
discussion
I'll call for the motion all in favor
all right any opposed any abstentions
Carl of stains thank you very much next
we have on um the board for
consideration is board appointments
moving to the Russell County Industrial
Development Authority
we have Roger sword on the list for that
I'll entertain a motion do we have any
other applications
foreign
we do we got one in our email today
I'd like to make a motion to put Roger
sword back on the idea I have a motion
for Roger sword any others Nate Kaiser I
haven't
let's see I have a motion for Nate
Kaiser
all right we'll take it in reverse order
all in favor for Nate Kaiser
we have three all in favor for Roger's
sword
looks like Mr swords on the Ida
Cumberland Plateau Economic Development
commission we have Frank Horton Tony
Lambert Ron Blankenship and James Eaton
do we do those as a slate Miss Patton
you can you have that option if you want
to what's the board's pleasure
I'm fine all right we're taking it as a
slate do we have any others that has
come before uh anybody
I'll ask that question
no ma'am all right
I'll entertain a motion for these listed
as a slate
I'll make that motion thank you Carl we
have a motion I need a second
have a second from Mr Lovelace all in
favor uh excuse me just a minute since
you're doing a sleigh I need to abstain
because James or genome is my first
cousin
okay okay all right so
um all in favor
uh uh any opposed and I have one
abstention Mr Eaton
next we have the Russell County Library
board
that's um Library board is Sherry little
she is in District One
I would like to nominate Sherry little
to continue or to be reappointed to the
library board we have uh
Nation for Sherry little
asterisk one for the Russell County
Library Board second we have a second
thank you very much all in favor any
opposed any abstentions motion carries
thank you now we've come to the point
where we're having citizen comment time
I'm going to limit you to three minutes
we have several on here that has come to
speak to
um the taxes which we have heard quite a
bit of tonight so what I'm going to do
is I'm going to skip around just a
little bit so that we can hear from some
folks that want to speak on other things
and then we'll do all the taxes at the
same time I thank you for letting me do
that
um first off we're going to talk uh call
on
um
foreign
I think it's opioid
and if I got that wrong please excuse me
straighten it out when you get here
I'm sorry we're both talking about the
same thing okay
um Michelle Vance moccasin Valium and
Chen's District
um as some of you know excuse me I work
for the Laurels Recovery Center
uh that's under uh Cumberland Mountain
and I was made aware that um the
counties will be getting more money
uh back and I saw one your thing that it
was over 200 000 at this point
I'm here to request that that money does
not just go
somewhere else within the county
I see it every day
the opioid epidemic is not it's not just
opioids anymore it's uh everything's
laced with fentanyl
um
it needs to go
to Cumberland Mountain The Laurels
Recovery Center
and also and I know Wanda will probably
talk about this as well something needs
to be done for the kids
have nowhere to go here in this County
they turn to drugs
and that's where it starts
the other portion of it is mental health
you would be astonished at the amount of
people who have actual mental health
problems who turn to street drugs
because they can't get help elsewhere
in this County
and it's not just in our County it's in
the three County Section the Cumberland
Mountain deals with which is uh Tazewell
Buchanan and Russell
um
we see probably we're an impatient
Clinic where five to seven day detox
and I'd say within the past month we've
probably had about 400 people rolled
through our doors
within it and it's mostly within those
Three Counties we do get some people
from outside other counties
um a lot of them come because they do
want to get help
a lot of them come because the judge or
the parole officer is making them come
um
some of them walk out some of them stay
we had and of course because of hit by I
can't say anything but I will tell you
there was one person
who did our program and this person is
doing very well
this person is taking advantage of
different things with here within the
county
um
I believe she's even spoken with um
Wanda's Dash Ministry
and some other places around here she is
local here
to this town now and she's staying close
to home which she considers us home
because we've taken one part as part of
her family now because she didn't have
one
um
there's a lot that this County still
needs to do
uh to come up and help these people that
need it
and I know a lot of people will probably
say
uh it's their choice it's not a disease
I kind of sit on the fence with that I
agree both ends some of it is their
choice some of it is a disease
um
but basically I want you to make sure
that all this money that the county is
going to get is going to go back into
helping get these people off the drugs
thank you Miss Vance I appreciate that
uh Miss Burke I apologize publicly to
you I skipped you you had taxes first
I'm sorry
um first of all I would I want to thank
the board I know a lot of you gave
personally to bring Mark marrow here
last month
um if you didn't hear any remarks if you
haven't heard from your kids you're not
listening because I'm going to tell you
this man affected
the kids in this County
he had over 500 messages before he ever
left this County from kids that were
reaching out about
about everything not just not just drugs
but about everything there was a girl
that wrote to him and said she has lit
herself on fire
she has taken drugs she's doing
everything she can because
she's in the situation she's in our kids
are in a deep state of trouble and we
don't even have a clue the tip of the
iceberg
um
along that note that's what I was going
to suggest
opioid the the settlement that's coming
in
don't waste this
our kids our families in this County
made
this
if it's to bring in 20 Mark marrows to
talk to our kids
do it
we raise the money it took a long time
but we raised the money to get him here
took us two and a half years
School Board told us the other night
they are going to back us a hundred
percent
to get somebody in here to continue to
help our kids so I'm just asking I don't
know what exactly we need to do but at
least put a portion of it aside that we
can use it to reach out to like I said
bring people in and give our kids some
support
so many kids said they just can't wait
to get out of this area because of of
the influences of where they live this
isn't inner city kids this is Russell
County
and I think it's Our obligation to do
what we can
for our kids
and it's not just high school kids I'm
telling you this is in this is in
elementary schools
if you haven't seen the thing about the
fentanyl this year that's why they're
saying really watch your candy
because there's candy out there that
looks like nerds and it's fun and it
will be here if it's not here already it
will be
so we're just asking that you help us
to try to help our kids and our families
opioids destroyed
way too much of this County and this
country and we need to do something
anything that we can to stop this so
that's what I'm asking for
thank you Miss Burke well said
beautifully done and I do think that uh
Mr Lester stop me if I'm wrong but when
this opioid funding comes down it has
specific
um guidance and deliverables so it is
not like it just goes somewhere without
us doing something about that so be
assured that we hear your plight and
thank you for bringing that to us again
okay the next one that I'm now I'm I'm
hopping around so
um Donnie Tackett are you here for
roadway
thank you Mr taggett
and again my name is Dolly take it
and I live at uh well my family and I
have property at 193 183 Creekside Drive
and you may be familiar with that
roadway section
it's paved both ends of it up to with a
small portion that we live on it's a
dirt road and the road is fairly almost
impassable now it needs some work done
to it
and and it's my understanding that
late 70s and early 80s there was a plan
to put it on the six year work plan and
I think that maybe have been pushed down
the road pushed down the road and my dad
and Mr Campbell used to manage the road
so it could be passable but now with the
times the way the inflation and
everything it's pretty tough to maintain
it now and I'm concerned with the safety
of it and the emergency vehicles be able
to access it but does anyone know the
status of it
uh when it may be in work work plan
you need to use your microphone get
closer we're sorry we're sorry
all right
but does anyone know the status of that
six year work plan and
What the residents and I could do to
maybe help move this project forward to
maybe get that section Road paved to get
it turned over to the state or
I think it's been discussed before and
yeah I can address that it's in my
district and I think I've been out there
three times and with VDOT and it has to
do with a right-of-way
and it's I don't know how it happened
but V Dot says there's not a clear
right-of-way to it because of how the
Farms were divided long for you and I
ever thought about it and v-dot says
there has to be it has to be brought up
to state standards and they've looked at
it like I said I personally have been
there three times to look down exactly
where you're talking about and it's it
has to do with a clear right one is what
VDOT has told me is anyone I can discuss
this with with VDOT to get the exact
information if we need to get provided
right away to get that done
you want to meet with him or tell him
who to contact with the I know it used
to be J.R Watson but Jr's moved on to
meal counts yeah meal counts
young male accounts but there's a we're
very familiar with the Creekside I came
from VDOT we okay there there is a
right-of-way issue there because they
won't impede upon right away you know
for other property but India could work
out the details on that but one of the
things they had this is previous
conversations under old engineers and
things change but the previous engineers
said it had to be brought up to stay
standard before they're bringing it into
the state system so that's kind of you
know you have to bring it up to get it
in and that's that's one of the
requirements
mm-hmm but we let's just go back because
it's been years I mean Tim says on on
the committee but things change and that
we can look at that we'll be glad to
look at that my numbers on this comment
sheet if you would like to contact me we
can discuss we do and I'll I'll bring
Jeff John our mail John I appreciate
that and I would like to thank you for
the water main that was installed along
the road that that was just didn't stop
that skirt yes yes and that's that's a
big Improvement thank you okay thank you
very much thank you Mr Tackett we shall
try to help you
um next we have
um and I'm just still skipping around
pro-life
support for Harper
and that is Cody Jackson
good evening board uh I am Cody Jackson
um
a member of Carl's District over in
Cleveland I'm going to be short compared
to most of the time when I come to talk
to y'all I just want to first of all say
that we really appreciate and proud that
the board took the resolution that they
did last month I think that has sent a
good message across the state and we've
already heard that I think Tasman
Dickinson uh have already followed your
lead and I think that's something you
guys could be very proud of I do believe
Buchanan will be looking at that again
next month and I if I'm not mistakenly
maybe as well but anyway I did send you
all an email which it was late this
evening so uh none of you some of you
may not have seen it but it does include
some information that I would send by
Josh Hensler from founding Freedom's Law
Center I am by no means a legal expert
but I wanted to try to be a facilitator
for that to pass that along I know the
board had mentioned some interest in
looking at the ability to do an
ordinance which I think would add a
little bit of teeth to the resolution
um and so that way you guys and Katie
can look at it and and see if there's
any any possibility of looking at it
that way be looking for a follow-up
email though because I did hear from you
tonight he was looking at it at a way of
doing it as well so maybe another option
as well that will be
just review the other thing is is that
as a co-coordinator for the Russell
County Christian Coalition I don't want
to jump in front of my other
co-coordinator because he's going to be
reading a statement but we just wanted
to let you know as April did as well
that we have heard from April we're
going to have her back at our November
meeting and and hopefully be looking to
see how we can coordinate our churches
to help a lot of the kids in the foster
care system with their Christmas and so
if any of you all would like to attend
that meeting not not necessarily just as
a Board of Supervisors but for your
churches feel free it should be the
third Monday in November and we'll get a
location to you this next one we're
gonna have in October is going to be at
the community center but I'm not sure
that's where it'll be next month so
we'll make sure I email everybody and
let you know
um and just wanted to again stay our
full support of that we're going to do
our best to be a sort of a coordinator
for her to get in contact with different
churches so we can get her the
volunteers she needs and maybe look at
trying to advocate for a lot of members
of our churches to looking to be in
respite for respite care and things of
that nature so we can really attack that
problem but that's all that I had this
evening and again we'll get that out to
you so that hopefully if you can he
schedules uh cooperate that you can come
out and um and hear what uh we're going
to try to get coordinated for Christmas
thank you Mr Jackson very informative
and we appreciate you so very much
next one is um Cameron Shelton Swords
Creek for Harper's home
well with the exception of what the
letter says Cody pretty much stole all
my thunder and everything I was going to
say so I'm just gonna I'll read this
later and I'd like to have it put in the
notes uh if that's okay
um it says Dear members of the Board of
Supervisors please allow this letter to
serve as a commitment of support from
the Russell County Christian Coalition
for Care Centers development of Harper's
home Miss April Moorefield and Governor
junkin's office have met with the
Coalition and asked for support from the
faith-based community for wraparound
services and for youth experiencing
foster care in Russell County We Believe
Harper's home's mission is aligned with
the coalition's mission we feel these
services are needed in our community now
more than ever as a coalition we will
work with Care Centers towards the
creation and development of Harper's
home we will provide support by
providing volunteers and services needed
to assist with the development of this
project we have already established a
committee of individuals devoted to this
project we are trusting the Board of
Supervisors will support this endeavor
as we we feel it is a very important
project the difference this could make
in the lives of many children right here
in Russell County will continue to bless
families for many generations to come
and again this is from Cody and I we're
the coordinators of the Russell County
Christian Coalition
um and just since he took pretty much
everything else I was going to say uh
I'll add this in you know we and a lot
of people in this room stood up and
fought for you know the belief in
pro-life in this County and that that we
believe that The Unborn should have a
right to that opportunity of life well
we don't feel like we should stop there
we feel like we need to try to do what
we can to take care of these children
that that weren't raised up in the good
homes that didn't have the opportunities
that some of us had and and we believe
that Harper's home and the Care Center
is a great place to start it's not where
we want to finish uh we've been working
with Department of Social Services and
Matt fernlander and several other
agencies but this is a good place to
start and and I'd like to also mention
that our Coalition meeting for October
will be this coming Monday uh at the
over at the community center at Lebanon
I'd invite all y'all to come we'll be
talking uh kind of coordinating how
we're going to work with uh April and
then come November to try to make sure
that those kids I think the last number
she gave me was somewhere around 30
Children built in this last year that
are from Russell County that we're going
to try to coordinate and make sure those
children get Christmas this year so
anybody that's interested in coming
being a part of that please come to the
meeting 6 p.m at Lebanon and uh that'll
be it
thank you so much give me that letter
and that will go in uh as our official
document and I'm going to attach it here
so Mr Lester will have that next we have
uh folks that want to speak to the tax
situation so I'm going to start back at
the top with Miss Sandy hiss from Swords
Creek
Sandy Hess from Swords Creek
I'm a little dizzy from all them numbers
so um everything I wrote here now has no
relevance whatsoever
um first let me start I do have two
different things that I'd like to speak
on uh first let me start by my
disclaimer that I'm not here under the
instruction or the permission of the
Department of Social Services again
um I had originally planned on speaking
tonight uh to ask a couple of questions
and to make a couple of statements
so I'll do that and then I'll speak on
the tax side number one when can the
County Employees expect to receive the
bonus that was approved in May
uh has the administrator received an
answer from the attorney general
concerning the way that the employee
bonus ordinance was amended
um
because in my opinion it violated the
Virginia code
15.2-1427 D and to state that I still
have not received a copy of the amended
ordinance
so that's what I was planning on
speaking on but uh
I'll tell you what it it's not really as
complicated
to most of these people sitting here as
what we just listened to
it appears that you all balance the
budget
with the numbers that you had
okay Services were cut from the county
uh they closed the trash dumps one day a
week so but you all balance the budget
uh it was very proud that you didn't
raise the tax rate
well
it at a 28 increase in the assessed
values even if the the tax relief was
reduced 11 percent from the state that's
still a 17 percent projected Revenue
increase
now the balance the budget's balanced
according to the numbers and everything
I went through I sat through every one
of these budget workshops
on May the 10th the first budget
Workshop Randy Williams was here
uh Alicia was here
okay apparently you all did have that
letter from Randy but Randy was here and
not not one board member even those that
didn't apparently know that it was in
the packet not one board member
questioned them
the County Administrator did not bring
it up
it was not questioned if if it was me
would I do something for my job and I
have a a presentation or a training if I
see that my people don't understand or
maybe you're not aware of the material
that they have in front of them I try to
make sure that they know what's in that
material I bring it to their attention
this was expected a huge Revenue
increase
coming into the county in Fall even at a
70 percent or whatever the uh not
everybody pays their taxes so that
that's that's figured in there also so
at 90 percent it's still going to be a
big Revenue increase and then Mr Lester
stated that maybe it could be put you
know towards next year's okay but all
this could have been avoided to me the
letter that Randy Williams sent pretty
much covered it you all had three
options
you could do nothing
you could reduce the tax rate which you
chose not to do
or you could change the percent of the
assessed value that you pull from your
Ada to change the asset those were the
three options given by the general
assembly that this board could have
taken and apparently it was not
explained it was not questioned
so nothing was done
now I have another issue that I'd like
to bring to you all's attention that
this could possibly cause
um
because the board chose to not decrease
the percentage in the assessed values
this could potentially keep citizens
from being eligible for Medicaid
and I'm not talking about people
families and Children's Medicaid I'm not
talking about uh people that are not
disabled I'm talking about
the most vulnerable people in our County
which is Long-Term Care nursing homes
community-based Care at home okay they
have the very lowest resource limit of
any category of Medicaid because a lot
of categories of Medicaid don't look at
your resources at all but the long-term
care Medicaid resource limit is two
thousand dollars
if a community spouse owns more than one
vehicle
this enormous increase in the value of
their vehicles could now cause their
spouse that needs to go to the nursing
home to be ineligible because it it's
going to raise their their values and so
keep that in mind also you know this is
something and even if
I mean no amount of tax relief that you
all can do if you give rebates to people
for paying their taxes that's not going
to help these people
it's not that the absorbent amount of
assessed value could possibly keep
someone from being able to qualify
personal
care and nursing home is 80 percent of
Medicaid's state budget because if
you're a private pay it costs eight
thousand dollars a month to stay in a
nursing home people can't afford that
especially our County that's why they
rely on Medicaid so 10 percent is not
going to put a dent in this
you're at five
minutes and 30 seconds suggestions but
this is this is a situation that didn't
have to happen
it didn't this should have been handled
back before the tax rate was set this
should have been handled before it
became a situation
thank you Miss Hayes as always
thank you
Nate Kaiser you're next
uh Nate Kaiser Green Valley Road Lebanon
um Sandy did an excellent job I think
she hit it right on the head
um
Randy Williams later went out March 25th
uh budget meeting May
June budget approved not a mention of it
um there's a clear lack of leadership
clear
um
you know you say we couldn't have done
anything because we didn't know the
numbers well I've got a whole list of
different counties throughout the state
that did
all their assessment adjustments in May
before you even had your first budget
meeting
so don't tell me it couldn't have been
done
don't tell me we didn't know what was
going to happen
Randy sent the letter May 25th or March
25th
so we had months to prepare for this we
knew what was coming
now people now people are going to be
faced with making decisions between
paying their light bill and paying their
taxes and as as Sandy said what happens
to the people who need assistance this
is going to cause them if you would have
adjusted
the value
possibly could have saved some of these
maybe save somebody's life who knows but
what we're looking at here is a
situation where we're behind the eight
ball
and something's got to be done
and it's got to be done fast and the
problem is we don't have much time
sounds like we're up against it even
moving the deadline to uh December 22nd
Christmas time guess what your taxes are
due Johnny's not going to get a a toy
for Christmas but you know
why why are we in this situation that's
what county taxpayers really need to
know and at this point it's going to
cost us more money as County taxpayers
to fix this problem
this is a complete failure and should
have been taken care of months ago and
now we're behind the eight ball
but uh
I'll be praying for it hopefully uh we
can work it out and uh the taxpayers can
can get some relief because uh times are
tough right now thank you
thank you Mr Kaiser
[Applause]
Charlie Hess
thank you sir
make sure you're back we'll look for you
Doug Mays
okay thank you
we've missed you both
Gary James
did I say that right
oh thank you
all right
and Sheila Jones
all right
Pauline salyer
Annie Stevens
okay thank you
hello I'm Annie Stevens I'm here again
on New Garden Rescue Squad
um we're still asking for additional
funding we did get the extra thousand
dollars a month
um
as I've heard
all evening about everything's gone up
inflation has gone up our fuel bill has
doubled our supplies have doubled I've
heard you know several times about other
counties uh so let's talk about other
counties our other counties Washington
County Tazewell County Buchanan County
all got new Rescue squads with their
coveted money
and all this Arbor money the Narcan
money
we have a problem here with opioid
do you know that I can't even keep up
with all the Narcan that we need this
new fentanyl that is in our area
you have to double or triple the dose of
Narcan it is in a fake pill now that
looks like a regular peel they put it in
everything
you know air protocols call for two
milligrams
eight milligrams barely touches it
and innocent people
are getting into this
our children are getting into this we've
already had two deaths
you know I do not want to see my child
in a coffin
and I'm doing everything I can
I have to buy
extra Narcan a two pack four milligram
nasal Narcan at cost is 109 dollars
that don't touch my child's life
nor your family's life because when I go
out here and I treat people I treat your
family as mine
and you know
I understand that we've got millions of
dollars everything costs a lot
but a thousand dollars extra a month
just doesn't cut it
twelve thousand dollars isn't ten
percent of that Grant I write grants all
the time
we need more money
because
number one is like God 365.
you know I went this week on an hour and
22 minutes sleep
but my community was taken care of
you know we we go all the time
holidays every day
I go to church a lot of Sundays
but I also go on a rescue squad too
so I'm I'm still asking
you know we were told we would get
additional funding to help to get help
for us to help send people to school
we haven't received that
our fuel cards they talked about we
haven't received that
we're in a situation
that affects everybody in this room
my fuel bill is almost three thousand
dollars a month it used to be 1200. I
don't let my crew use my truck to go get
something to eat
I turned the light off while they're
sitting in the room
you know we are I barely spend what I
have to
and this is serious
but
uh this is my sixth meeting
that I have come to two meetings you saw
me run out because I had to go take care
of somebody
and that's about an hour every month
to two hours
and I've had to run out and go take care
of somebody
so I'm asking that you look again and
consider
cause you may need 9-1-1 and I would
like I'm getting older too
I want somebody trained and I want the
state of art equipment and I want
somebody to take care of me one day
and as of last month we were already
starting to see the tax
increase I had 35 patient refusals
people saying I can't afford my medicine
I can't afford health care
you know I have two full-time jobs I
provide my family with insurance
I see the increase I drive a 2013 car
with 155 000 miles on it but I've got to
get to work because I have two essential
jobs to take care of my community
but we have to
have some help somewhere
and I know it's like
some of it's for infrastructure what is
infrastructure for Russell County
on that I mean
can you enlighten me
on
on the grant because on the grants that
I write every penny is accounted for
so what what do we stand at for the EMS
infrastructure of Russell County
okay
you know we're having to travel
because we don't have the Specialties
that we need
you know if you're having a heart attack
I need to take you to a cath lab that's
extra miles
that's I've got to call somebody you've
got to cover because I'm sending my crew
out of town
that's extra fuel
that's getting you to a specialty center
so you don't die
and we need help
and our radios you know trust me I have
been sent to multiple places
in very dangerous situations
and I can't even talk to people
they don't know if I'm okay if I'm not
okay
you know there's a lot of hidden stuff
here that EMS we need to be brought
forward and safe
because we all need it
so
thank you so much we appreciate you
and the work that you do
Mr Larry Hughes
good evening my name's Larry Hughes I
reside in Lebanon I'm the district for
Steve readings out uh I'm sure 34 hour
drive
I want to thank the board uh and the
county support staff although I'm going
to read this so don't miss anything
because
I thank the board and the county
president allow me to express my
briefings tonight to the board
uh but it's available Constitution
anyway but we'll go ahead and I'll I do
understand that you may have many hard
decisions you got to make and I want to
thank you to take your time you started
for doing this but I'm curious if all
the elected board members were provided
the copy later David March 25th 22 uh
the County Administrator our commission
Revenue the elected Constitution officer
that reference of forthcoming tax
increases with three options and the
answer is no that's why I'm here tonight
it wasn't happening I assume it was
provided to the county staff to select
members of the board additionally were
the option to help produce the increased
personal property taxes discussed in the
county budget committee meeting if not
what was it discussed as the concern
says that we have a right to know has
the board reviewed these tax rates
has all the board reviewed the rebate
has the uh the personal Department tax
rate spend open discussed in the board
meetings
has the board been given they're
reviewed by the County Administration
before tonight
if not you'd need to be asking questions
why all board members or all of the
board members are not provided to this
information on the fort Camp Texas why
was she provided it
if it's not you our elected officials to
talk to as the service of the citizens
or have you regulated regulated reggae
you can get it up have you given this to
someone else to do have you given it to
Not Elected art staff
I know we have our constitutional offer
to help us and that's a question I need
to ask you in a second
you know we need help to make informed
decisions from your co-opers and
taxpayers if you're not being provided
the difference information we've got a
problem so who makes the tax rate
decision what is the responsibility of
the Commissioner Revenue I thought
that's his job I keep hearing tonight
someone else is collecting the taxes I
thought that was the commissioner's job
uh is they've been reported to the ball
at the board on timing manner it's
critical that they get you get this my
information back as our representative
that's you're going to have to have this
and again now there's just another
thread
it's simple a statement fact a reckoning
is coming do
if you're felt on your oath and provide
due difference in your life position or
reckons coming
since it appears you do not provide the
critical reduce your obligation to
protecting these of your positions in
the light of the current economic
quandary that we're facing here in the
United States and the states
you know we're engaged probably in high
inflation rights communication Place
rates is beyond more than some of these
young people have lived in they've never
seen this right this out before as Randy
Orton Williams said we've never seen
this before
again high gas prices High grocery
process how medical costs things of the
snakes just creating these problems many
people with fixed incomes our middle
class ways on Earth is created heaven
for them they they just can't afford it
it's created the social economic status
problem for many determined even their
health issues whether they choose a
variety of medication if they can choose
not
here's my prop my grievance you simply
you you're not considered the public
will other citizens are worse yet you
were unaware of the opinion tax rates
increases soon to be thrust upon the
citizens will assist data withheld from
any U.S elected uh trustees and I assume
that's what I'm hearing tonight he was
and that's not good I remind you of this
as a Democratic Republic form of
government and we as citizens have right
be included in the county governments
once again our reference your oath and
your Constitution Virginia article two
Bill of Rights section two people is the
power of the source the sector states
that all power is vested in and
consequent drive from the people
that medicine that's you the elected
officials are the trustees and servants
and at all times the minimal to them
I'll give you blacks the debt to the
legal definition on the minimal subject
to the answers of the two laws
accountable responsible and liable for
punishment as such you have the legal
responsibility paper and partially
discharge all the duties and comfort
foam each of you as a forward memory
whereas you have a legal requirement as
an oath taker to Spur our firm to uphold
the United States Constitution Virginia
Constitution implicit embedded in this
is your your abide by the apical laws of
the state
I'll refer you back to black Black's Law
Dictionary which states a fiduciary duty
a duty to act for someone else's benefit
while security one's personal interests
to that of others the definition of
fiduciary accurately summarizes that a
fiduciary duty is a liquid duty to act
on behalf of other parties and pursue
the party's best interests as such the
penny tax rate increase should have been
mitigated by a good board if there I
feel there is an immediasis your family
or citizens that includes a favor to
follow through with the responsibility
to protect the well-being of our
citizens by not following the options to
diminish the tax rates to conclude I
think each of us the people your
constituents
as a caution you're to be held
accountable to the citizen for your
failure to provide due diligence and
exercising to finish your
responsibilities
thank you Mr Hughes um do you want this
letter added to the it will be done
thank you
um next we have Mark cook Honaker
Miss Jennifer Chumley
I'll make it quick over there smart for
your boat here
all right my name is Jennifer Chumley
I'd just like to thank y'all each of you
each of you on the board has helped me
in many different ways I am saddened
that our political comment has become
so divided and it's a people of Russell
County field and this total Division and
everybody's you know suffering for taxes
suffering for different reasons and
medical fields and different you know
I've heard them talk about the dog
shelter that we need that
um racing squads need money everybody
needs money so I reserve my tax for that
I just wanted to thank each and every
one of you y'all been great and I want
to
I guess say that I hope that when you
guys were elected y'all were one of the
best boards that ever came through here
you really were and I had such great
hope that this board could work together
and bring great things and y'all have
y'all have each one of you have
um I've come to meetings on and off
throughout the years you guys have been
one of the best boards that's ever said
unfortunately due to the political
climate that's kind of divided some as
the people can see but most people you
know like in my area they don't really
care about politics they just want to
live their life buy their groceries
get by you know have a have some things
to do in the evening and that's why I'm
going to throw tourism back in your hand
in your Aussie years so once we get
everybody settled with the taxes and all
the issues I'm hoping we can get back on
track with getting jobs in the area and
getting back to tourism so that these
people can have something to do you know
I heard them talk about the children
that need things to do in the evening
tourism is our answer to that so I'm
gonna put that back in y'all's ear and I
hope that you can we'll continue to work
on that after we work on the current
issues at hand thank you guys
thank you Miss Chumley
and that concludes my list that I have
if there is another one out there that
I'm missing please let me know if you
signed up and not been called on
so it
I will give you all some extra time does
anybody else feel like they need to
speak
going once twice
closed public comment thank you very
much
all right moving on
um
we have our constitutional officers
reports and requests I think
those that was here gave up
um and I I mean that from my heart so
please excuse me
County attorney reports and requests
we're coming to you Miss Patton number
one the Homemaker Redbud Festival
property thank you madam chair at the
board previously addressed part of this
I did look up to see what the time
constraints on setting a public hearing
would be if you wanted to set this
public hearing for the October 26th that
would be fine or you can do it at your
regular meeting on November the 7th
whatever however you want to handle that
okay
um I don't have a problem with that if
the attorney says we can do two public
hearings that evening
um this is important to Mr Eaton and he
would like to move
quickly with this and I can understand
why so
um I don't have a problem does my fellow
board members have a problem with
setting that public hearing do I need a
motion on that
or just set it
okay
I'm going to set another public hearing
for October 26th for the um
Honaker Redbud Festival Property
Disposition of that is that correct 26
did I say 25th again I apologize 26
Wednesday night Wednesday night
Wednesday night sorry
we'll get it straight
uh next uh on this
um
report is Katie I'm just going to let
you do it you just run with it okay
that's fine
um the next one is also a property and
transfer this property we currently own
it's the property where the Honaker pool
is currently located and I've talked to
Lonzo about this and and what and he can
explain he can go in the details if the
board's unaware of
um what the reason is for but it's my
understanding that and the board may
want to consider conveying this property
to the Russell County School Board
um and to convey property we would have
to have a public hearing it's my
understanding also from Lonzo that a
survey needs to be done so I would
recommend just going ahead and sending
this one for November 7th in hopes that
maybe the survey will be done and we I
can prepare the deed
we'll take that under advisement and
thank you very much does the board have
any problems with that are we all clear
on that you don't need a motion on that
that's just just a set of public hearing
if you want to convey it at the next
meeting uh not for the 20 no for the
seven for the seventh okay
all right
November 7th yeah I'll take Chairman's
prerogative and set it can I give you a
little bit of an explanation so the
board knows what's going on uh with the
whole naked pool property uh the poll
was kind of in disarray it's been like
that for years and Mr Bush had
approached me uh with a great ideal to
talk to the school board about turning
it in actually it's got water and sewer
access and it has a really nice building
and they're like tennis court uh per
like an indoor batting facility for our
youth here we've talked again about
having enough stuff for youth to do so
they're wanting to since they're going
to move the part down beside New
People's Bank we could utilize what we
already have in existence without having
to reinvent the wheel so this will give
access kids a place to go office space
for the coaches like coach Donovan that
coaches the girls to give him an access
to have an office there and it'll have
bathrooms where it already has sewer and
water there for soccer football on the
outside of that facility so I just want
to kind of give you an idea of what's
the discussion being on
okay thank you Mr Eaton we will take
care of that at a November meeting uh
next Katie and the next the next item I
have for the board Madam chair is there
are two leases for Kenny disposal sites
for the new disposal site and our
previous lease was ended and
um I have and I have brought with me the
finalized leases with the proper legal
description for the chair to sign if you
all approve those tonight but those are
ready to be approved
um at the board's discretion
I like to make a motion to prove those
I'll second we have a motion and a
second for the Finney disposal site
leases all in fact or any discussion
no discussion in all in favor and
opposed any abstentions motion carries
and Madam chair the last
excuse me
the last item I have for the board
um relates to
um what are called bulk water sale
contracts that nice Lawns are to pull
all the ones that we had and there's we
have one with Washington County Tazewell
County Scott County Town of Honaker town
of Lebanon and town of Richlands
um and I can only assume that these
water contracts were done a long time
ago with the county because we had
separate water authorities and it's my
understanding that one of the thing one
of the objectives when we when the two
water authorities were combined into the
Russell County PSA was that the county
would basically be getting out of the
water business and handing over all of
that to them so they are the ones that
would deal with these contracts as they
purchase water from these localities and
so um and this is board's discretion but
I would recommend
um the board assigning all of these
contracts to the Russell County PSA that
way if there's any issues with
um with those they can handle that
instead of involving divorce supervisors
as well
I'll entertain emotions I'll make it
thank you Mr Eaton I need a second
all right we have a motion in a second
um no any further discussion on this we
are so good with this I promise all in
favor
any opposed any abstentions motion
carries thank you
that's all I have Madam chair
and now we're going to move along to the
County Administrator reports and
requests Mr Lester thank you madam chair
foreign
County Administrator reports is of
course the Attorney General is coming to
Russell County
uh to meet with the Board of Supervisors
towns and Constitution officers on
October the 13th at 6 pm and in this
boardroom so uh
we have set that meeting up with him he
will be here at this time and he'll be
proceeding on to the Lebanon
um
bonfire and tailgate party pep rally so
he'll be at the school too and so uh
Board of Supervisors will be escorting
from here to the school
so second thing on the Ken administrator
reports is of course is the school and
we uh both myself and chairman Wallace
met with the school board and we had
asked you know and they freely gave a
current list of their capital outlay
projects and how they were paying for
them from the you know what each one of
them was paying from the esa projects
and what other projects they had put on
the capital athlete plan over the next
year so y'all have that list in your
packet which ones they're done which
ones we had discussed of course one of
them was the whole neck and pull
restoration that was that was added we
added that one uh of course you know
you know uh I'm not gonna I'm not going
to leave out Bob Gibson because he
wanted his tennis court so Bob's
releasing after I told me and Bobby he
hooked our way back so these are your
list they are paying it out of their
Easter Bunny so and they're working
through that Tim can speak on it at any
time but that is the project listing and
as we proceed and they say
uh complete the projects or if there's
been a change in projects they'll give
us a project update
thank you okay next is get down to the
business Russell County administrative
request is of course the open mail
settlement from the distributor enchants
and settlements I have a motion for to
bring in 218
683.28 cents into the general fund
appreciation for you
sing We have a motion and a second for
the opioid settlement of 218
683.28 cents any discussion yes uh I've
got one thing I would like which we've
had some great comments here tonight as
far as how we can spend the money and
what we can spend it on
we need those guidelines uh the
guidelines the money's coming before the
guidelines I hate to say well we're
going to sit on the money until we get
together that is what I have done and
Truth she's not here what we have done
we have put that into special allocation
Appropriations it's it's segregated it's
not in the general funds it's well I
will say this Mark marrow had a huge
impact on my son
that's all he's talked about and it had
a huge impact on a lot of other children
and if we can appropriate funds for
certain activities like that and spread
it over so they'll have enough
allocation of funds to have one per year
don't just do it once and then cut it
off don't do it again we need to expand
this out to where these are long-term
type events that continues to have huge
impact on these children's lives not
only the children but the adults too it
was it was huge
I don't know if it was recorded anywhere
but
and be an opportunity to see him you
ought to try to tragedy and thank you
you got a big heart and that's a lot of
work and we appreciate it finally got it
how clean they were how he just couldn't
get over so I go into a lot of schools
in Russell County so I think we have
something yeah I agree
I agree
um
just one more touch note on these opiate
and you know one of the things that they
put into the legislation it has to do
with recovery it's got to do with Public
Safety and the courts so those three we
do know but they have not give a
breakdown of those Universal terms yet
on what is applicable what's not
applicable what's so I have parked it
into a special fund it's it's it's it's
not mixed in with the general funds and
is Senator pillion still chair of that
uh committee at the state level yes
ma'am Senator so just so you know those
that are listening Senator pillion is
the chair
yeah the state level
yes all right we got a motion in a
second
um I'll call for the vote all in favor
thank you madam any opposed thank you no
one's about
next of course uh this is another uh
Rescue Squad that we've we've been
working with and as you've heard before
we we have given Norse amount of money
we have over the cares act over the arpa
act with the radios worrying in just
Emergency Services which they still need
more we into the millions of dollars
already contributed to them you know
just just with money and surplus and
supplies and suits and and Etc but one
of the things that even the Dane area
and they have approached us they're
asking for the membership is a hard
thing to get because it's just like
workers you can get Workers you can get
people dedicated you can get young
people to decide what to do oh my gosh
this there's no way these people are out
here they're they're getting old no no
disrespect magazine because she's been
back there and she'll outrun everybody
in this offer I'm telling you right now
she if she goes down I'm calling her
because I got her own speed dial because
she will outrun every other Squad to get
to my house even though it's not in her
service area
that's I know it and and we we sit and
talk in these Mercy management meetings
and what their needs is and we try to
give enough to be equal and fair and shy
across the board to each one of them
I've got the radios we've got those in
we're getting ready to give them out
I've run them both crazy so those are
everything is coming together but it
takes time and it takes money money so
but again the date Rescue Squad is
trying to extend their staff by lowering
the
at Maxi on the age they're wanting to
drop from 16 to 13. they won an
exemption through the Department of
Health to be able to do this so they can
start training early and if they can
they can use them in different
capacities in different jobs even around
even the firehouse or the rescue squad
doing you know other
assistance that they can and some of
them's parents are there and they can
run them on squads they'll start the
learning process and maybe that's where
a career that they they really want to
take up on they don't know until they
try so this is a great opportunity I'm
asking I got a resolutions of support
for the board of directors for the Dank
Rescue Squad to reduce the age from 16
to 13 to give them an availability for
training because we have offered to pay
for the training we can do that lrp I
haven't we I'll pay for your training
you can't get them to come and trade
so
yes
so I need a motion to make the long
story short need a motion for today to
lower it from 16 to 13 to give more
volunteers
all right I'll entertaining motion
my camera
thank you Mr Christian I need a second
I have a second for Mr Ray all uh any
further discussion would it would it be
in our best interest to communicate with
all the squads and reduce it for all
well if you do it it'll have to as as
Maxie will tell you each squad has its
own Charter so well I mean if we
approved it upon giving it back to them
for their evaluation to adopt I mean I
don't know I mean I'm just thinking
we're doing it for one and then
side
well that's what I'm saying I I think
that you'd be better off to pass it
across the board and give it back in the
hands of their board for approval just
make it Universal across
to the 13. I can do that at all towards
pleasure I mean but I think it would be
the right way Maxine's telling you she'd
like to do it too we're going to have to
meet we're gonna have to keep voting on
this forever Squad because once the word
gets out they'll all want to do it okay
then let's let's how I've got the
resolution on the floor though
and I don't have the other squads now
although Maxi carries a lot of weight
she's on the Emergency Management
Council so don't let her scare you
[Laughter]
but
some of the squads if you want to do it
then I'd rather go ahead and pass this
and then pick up the rest of them on the
next one and that way you got
every other Squad in Emergency
Management fire and rescue to be
unavailable to do but we'll go ahead and
move this one then let's just come back
I would agree with that and send that
later was let them know that they have
the option to get into this just have
somebody contact them find out if
they're interested well and but see here
here's one of the
issues with this and and I'm going back
up just a little if you don't care
say one of the things with it it is a
personal request based off their Charter
to the department yeah individual per
application am I missing anything no I
understand I mean I'm just thinking if
if they want to do it haven't presented
to the board for our consideration at
the next meeting for us to vote on those
okay do you want y'all want to table
this one and move or move forward
improve let's just vote on it okay go
get it I will do
yeah go ahead and do it and then all the
other squads will go out in the email if
y'all want to continue give me your
names and I'll do a you're good okay
okay we have a motion and a second
all in favor any opposed
any abstentions motion carries thank you
next on the County Administrator request
is VDOT
another rule Edition on tent route 1055
on Jim Kaiser Road
so I need a motion for approval on this
that was in your packets on
the it's a roll Edition
I'll entertain a motion on behalf of the
VDOT resolution for Rural additions
motion I'll make it motion I'll second
Mr breeding Mr Eaton uh motion and
second any further discussion on this
it is in your packet for you to look at
all in favor uh any opposed
any abstentions motion carries
next on the county administrative Quest
is of course that was in your package uh
all the all the Planning Commission
plans that have been passed uh y'all had
an explanation on each and every one of
them so I'd like to motion to cover up
you know all the plants unless y'all
have a problem within the individuals
they there was nothing major in into
these issues of the class that were in
your packet so I need a motion to cover
all of the Planning Commission plans
I'll entertain a motion for the Russell
County Planning Commission plants all
together so move second I have a motion
in a second any discussion
hearing none I'll call for the vote all
in favor
any opposed thank you ma'am motion
carries you're very welcome thank you
ma'am chair that concludes the county
Ministry reports and requests
okay to finalize this meeting this
evening
um everyone has on their calendar for
the uh
26th Wednesday okay I said it right that
time and also the 13th for our attorney
general coming to visit Jason miyaras
and board discussion and reminders
anything else I just got one thing Madam
chair I'd like to uh
after talking to some of the other
counties after we've passed last month's
resolution on pro-life I'd like to send
a copy of that to the governor's office
uh I don't know if I need to do that in
form of emotion uh but I would be
willing to make a motion to send a copy
of that to the governor's office
um
uh what we pay us last month
yeah I made motion a second
okay well we didn't amend the agendas to
take care of that motion but um Miss
Patton can we accept that
I mean it's just bored but I mean I
don't even know that you need emotion I
mean I think you can just ask good Lonzo
okay this is just a request you can make
the request I'll make the request to
send a copy
see okay Santa Claus no you don't need
that no just request board member
request we're good on that um one more
thing I got uh I'd like to thank the
Virginia Department of Transportation
uh I know they've been under manned
under staffed being able to try to keep
up with all the Mowing and everything
else they've had to do I want to thank
mail counts and the work they've done up
at the Miller Creek Bridge uh they took
out three truckloads of uh material
there to try to evaluate the water get
it going to the other side for some of
those residents that was getting on road
more stuff so I just want to thank them
for the hard work and what they've done
uh with the limited amount of staff
okay Mr Eaton we're going to skip you
the next time around
um Mr love life
okay Mr Ray
yes I'm glad to see you at the Phoenix
go to my trash now I'm gonna be coming
back and let's go help them a lot and
I've had numerous calls on it and glad
that we're getting it back up we're glad
for you trust us uh Mr breeding
no ma'am I'm all argued out tonight all
right we'll let you ready but I will see
more sometime
I look forward to it okay we'll do the
numbers soon
I have coffee Steve
no um with my water projects in Belfast
I do want to thank all the entities in
our agencies that have helped us get
that we've got almost two million
dollars worth and we are working on a
few more water projects and I do hope we
are successful with folks and I
appreciate all the state and federal
agencies that's helped us
Mr Christian
I just like to say I hope this bull
would do something to help these people
with the taxes
it looks like we ain't got much of a
change but
I wish they hadn't come to this point
thank you Mr Christian
mine and attorneys only no reconvene not
a jury okay you're reminding me we need
to return to reconvene on Thursday at
six okay
um I will accept a motion to adjourn to
reconvene I'll make that motion all
right we have a motion and a sec I need
a second all in favor
I have to specify on
Wednesday
Thursday
oh 13. I oh I'm sorry I forgot all about
that yeah that's
that's why oh for them
um it is By Invitation Only yes
okay we're going to adjourn to reconvene
on Thursday
sorry yes yeah all right
we've got that thank you board members
tonight and thank you in the audience we