Wednesday, October 3, 2007

AND the Zoning Consultant is IN!

Page County Board of Supervisors Work Session, Oct. 2, 2007.

Present at meeting Hoke, Rust, La France, Strickler, Cubbage.

The first item on the agenda was the Monthly Report from the Public Works Department by Henry Mikus.

He reported that they had a Public Hearing in September on Amendment 7 for the Battlefield Landfill and that it was a very positive meeting. He also noted that their 2 year anniversary is coming up soon.
He said that repairs had been made to floor joists in the circuit court room and a privacy railing had been added in one of the offices.
He told the board that the paper recycling plant in Edinburg was closing and that he would need to find a new company to handle our paper products.

The second agenda item was the New Stanley Well Location by Henry Mikus.

Mr. Mikus talked about the wells near the landfill being closed and the new well location off Goodrich Road. They need electric run for the new well and they discussed whether to have underground or above ground cable. He said they also need a new pump and a fence around the well. The board also discussed digging the electric line and water line at the same time to save money.
Mr. Mikus said there would be a Public Hearing on the Town Annexation on Oct. 30.

The board changed there November work session to Wednesday November 7 at Stanley.

The next agenda item was the Ordinance Amendment on the Personal Property Tax for Aircraft.
Dr. Cardman and Mr. Markowitz discussed the economic benefits of lowering the personal property tax on aircraft to .50 on the accessed value. After some disagreement from Hoke the amendment passed unanimously.

The next agenda item was the Contract for the Phase 1 of the Zoning Ordinance Update. Kevin Henry told the Board that the Planning Commission unanimously supported the update. After some discussion the Board approved the Contract.

Next Tom Cardman talked about the Wrangler Job Retention Grant. This is as I understand it a $65,000.00 dollar incentive grant in the form of a machine and tool tax reduction for employee retention. The Board approved the grant.

Lastly Shanks talked about the Ordinance for the Economic Development Authority Membership. He was talking about staggered terms for members.

They then went into closed session to discuss:
Consultation with Legal Counsel and Briefings by Staff Members Pertaining to Probable Litigation.
Discussion Concerning a Prospective Business or Industry
Acquisition of Real Property

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Apparently there is some rule in place whereby they can vote in a Work Session on those things for which they've already had a public hearing?

So the game is: in the public hearing, when the public is expecting the item, table the issue, ala the airport tax and the zoning consultant. Then wait until the work session, when fewer people come and no one can speak about it, and vote while the public isn't looking.

Interesting tactic.

Anonymous said...

hello, welcome to Virgini member of the Jabberwock Party..indeed, founded in 1607..

this "tactic" has been used since, well, forever. Yes, sometimes there are legitimate reason for tabling an issue, sometiems not so legitimate reasons (as you described)...

As idealistic as it may seem, the duty of the citizens is to recognize when such action is indeed a simple rouse, and understand when such a position is indeed for the best interest of the citizenry..

Not easy, put possible..

Anonymous said...

If $45K is the retainer what's the total contract price? What is the County Planner doing?

Anonymous said...

Thanks BOS. You've again shoved it to us! More money wasted on an un-needed consultant for an un-needed update to a zoning ordinance that's nearing being out of control to match the out of control spending of the out of control BOS!

Rumors are Lafrance and Hoke won't be running in 2009 - let's hope so; but if they do, we'll get'em. I'm sure the out of control Strickler with her really out of control monthly expense account will run in 2009 and I've been told that the people in Dist. 5 are definitely going to get her! Supposedly they already have a candidate. FOR THE RECORD: Strickler's monthly expense account with the BOS is approximately DOUBLE all of the other supervisors put together!!

If the other supervisors were doing their job; they would shut Strickler down themselves.

Vote them all out. We need a clean slate especially at the position of Sheriff. But if the voters of the county don't do it; the Feds will!!

Anonymous said...

Does the County not have a line item in the budget for the Supervisor's expenses? How can Strickler continue to overspend if it's not budgeted?

Anonymous said...

The reason Strickler continues to overspend ( a nice way of putting it / there are other ways of putting it) is that the OTHER supervisors do not stop her. Why? who knows? maybe it's their way of getting her vote on various things. It's not like she has any idea at all what she's doing!

Page County Watch said...

The total contract price for the consultant is $112,500, which would include a complete zoning rewrite. However, only the first phase, which is the Land Use Map, has been authorized by the Board. It is not a retainer, it is the actual work to deliver the Land Use Map. However, it is a pure time and materials contract, and if there is nothing delivered when the money is spent, the money will still be spent.

Regarding Mrs. Strickler's budget. This information is public record. Anyone who wants to know how much she has spent, and what it was spent on, may have those records. Call our new Registrar, Carol Gaunt, on 743-3986, and ask for Carol Lee's expense reports. They are publicly available.

Perhaps she visits constituents more than others and has a lot of mileage to report.

Anonymous said...

Alice, as usual you haven't the faintest idea what you're talking (blogging) about. Strickler's expense account IS NOT in the Registrar's office (another office wherein nobody has the faintest idea what they're doing either). The registrar has Strickler's political campaign information which probably is also sketchy. Her supervisor expense account is in the county admin. office and it's a gas!