Board of Supervisors Meeting   2/9/2021

Call to order the February 9, 2020 regular meeting of the Nelson County Board of Supervisors.

Mr. Rutherford.

Yes.

Good afternoon.

I am the mayor of Good News today.

The Green Ridge Tunnel Project received a national award from the Coalition for Recreation and Paternal

A total of 12 awards were given out and you're the only recipient in Virginia to receive an award.

The tunnel won in construction and design category and a major qualifier and prerequisite for the award is that you have to receive recreational trails program funding which we did in 2015 for a total of $425,000 so

It's kind of a big deal.

So I just want to congratulate Nelson County and the staff who have been working on the project for so long.

We truly are fortunate to have this recreational and historic amenity in Nelson County, and that's evident not only through this award, but also because of the habitation level that we have to take.

So, congratulations.

Okay, it's now time for public comments.

I want to give you the rules for public comments.

When you come to the microphone, please speak in the microphone.

Give your name and address.

You have three minutes to say what's on your mind, so please be clear and concise.

Address the chair with your comments, and it's always best not to expect whatever it is you talk about unless it's already

So I would like to open up the public commentary if anybody would like to come forward and address the board.

Oh, I have a list.

Good afternoon.

I'm Edith Napier, address 43 Napier Loop, Arlington, Virginia.

I live in the West District.

I too would like to congratulate Clara for the distinction that awarded that plaque brought to Nelson County.

That's a great thing.

I thank each of you for all you do and allow me this time today.

As a board member of the Nelson Heritage Center, I come before you on behalf of the board of directors of the Millennium Group of the Nelson Heritage Center.

It was at one of your board meetings last year when a representative of the Virginia Health Department came before you requesting assistance in locating a long-term home for the Nelson branch

of the Health Department, which would offer sufficient space for their mission.

We heard their request and responded in the same manner we have responded to other needs in the county, such as partnering with the food banks to have two food banks at the Heritage Center, partnered with Unity and Community, and have a furniture minister at the Heritage Center.

and allowing COVID-19 testing at the center and flu shots be given.

We are part of the county and when there is a need, we try to provide assistance because we are thankful for the Nelson Heritage Center and it is a place where the community can come together.

The Heritage Center contacted the Virginia Health Department

and have been working diligently with their General Services Administration Department to offer them an exceptional long-term option for their facility.

We are working with an architectural firm that provided estimated cost of the renovation based on the health department's requirements and the present layout of the space at the Heritage Clinic.

They have conducted space fit tests

State.

The established construction timeline was the completion date of January or February of 2022.

We are working diligently to be able to offer appropriate space for the health department at the Nelson-Hurgis Center for the benefit of the citizens of Nelson County, a place that's only five minutes from its present location.

It was noted that during the budget planning session last week, there was discussion of a need for the Department of Social Services and the account department to be located in the same facility.

As a member of the Nelson County Department of Social Services board, I can truly attest to the great and urgent need of appropriate office space for the mission of the Department of Social Services.

However, there is no mission requirement

from the Department of Social Services and the Health Department to be co-located.

In fact, I did a survey of all the counties in the Blue Ridge Health District.

That's the Charlottesville, Albemarle, Savannah, Green, Louisa, and then Nelson.

And I was advised that the departments are separately located except have separate and different missions.

Therefore, on behalf of the Board of Directors of the Nelson Heritage Center, I have any questions

and the Board of Supervisors issue a letter of endorsement for the Nelson branch of the Health Department to be located at the Nelson Urgent Center.

Thank you, and if you have questions, I am available.

The chair of the Millennium Group, Reverend Rodney Sanders, is available.

Board member Larry Stauffer or any other board member would be happy to provide any

Thank you.

Okay.

Right, Arlene Hudson.

Okay, thank you.

Hello, Amy Harris with Java.

I do work here in Nelson County, so don't pick me up yet, but I live in Madison Heights, 100 Oak Hill Drive.

But I just wanted to give a little report on Java and what we've been up to since the last time I spoke to you all.

and still doing a lot of virtual things.

We really amped up our virtual calendar with so pretty much every day of the week people not only seniors not only here in Nelson County but in all the other counties can get on and do bingo or chair exercises or devotions or any number of things.

That's actually been a really good thing for our members specifically that have participated in that because they've been able to connect with

with seniors in other areas that they may not have been able to connect with otherwise.

So there's silver lining with all of this.

We are tentatively right now planning to reopen again March 1st as the time gets closer depending on what the numbers are looking like and how things are looking that may change, but that's the plan right now.

And we are still providing home delivered meals to folks in the area that need it as well.

And not just folks who are affiliated with Java, but people who want to need it.

And I think that's about it.

And I just thank you all so very, very much for all your support and the care that you've shown to Java, especially in these hard times.

So thank you.

Anybody else like to participate in public comments?

Hearing none, we'll close with public comments.

and move on to the consent agenda.

I'd like to add to the consent agenda resolution 2021-07, which was circulated among the Board of Supervisors prior to the meeting, recognition of the county emergency services agencies.

Mr. Chairman, I move that we accept the consent agenda with the addition.

OK, we have a motion to accept.

Any discussion?

Mr. Parr?

Yes.

Mr. Rutherford?

Yes.

Yes.

Mr. Brown.

Thank you, Chairman Reed.

I think you all have copies of the FY21 construction budget.

This is the same budget as last year when we approved the complete six year plan.

This budget you're looking at today is simply the second year, exactly as it was approved in 2019.

And as you can see, there's a lot of projects in here.

Many of them have been completed.

The first project is aerial drive.

That construction has been completed.

And the only reason it's still in the budget because we haven't closed it out financially.

We have to keep them in the budget until they're closed out financially, but that's okay.

But it is completed.

Greenfield Drive construction is completed.

Jacks Hill Road is completed.

Ruhall Road has been completed.

Ruhall Lane has been completed.

Emily's Gap has been completed.

Carter Hill Road, that was completed last year.

Bottoms Lane has been completed.

Shields Gap, we completed the initial, what was in the plan, but we found out our state maintenance went about 300 more foot beyond where we had marked at.

So we will go back and hard surface that 300 feet.

to give those residents access to a hard circus road.

That was an error on our part, but we are going to correct that.

High Peak Road is under construction.

We did not finish that last year, but everything is clear for it to go ahead.

And next on the list is Cedar Creek Road.

Wilson Road, another section of Campbell's Mountain Road, and a section of North Fork Road.

Those are the unpaid roads and rural rusted projects that have not been completed yet.

And then if you look on the second page, these other projects, we have like a budget item that we always carry for county-wide engineering and survey.

We have a countywide item for right-of-way engineering.

We have a countywide item for traffic services.

And this, we use this fund a whole lot.

I'll just give you this information.

This is the secondary road funding that we use for putting up new signs throughout the county.

Any traffic-related items that we need to put up something special, like a

Lincoln Line at an intersection or something on a secondary.

That's what we use these phones for.

And then there is a county-wide drainage item.

We will use this for drainage improvements on secondary roads that will come to light if we replace some pipes or have a pipe.

Something that's not really maintenance,

Mobile Replacement on new pipe or something.

That's what we would use that for.

But it's pretty straightforward.

It's like it's always been.

And just for your information, we are at this time we're not going into doing a full revision of the priority list for unpaid roads.

Most of you are familiar with that.

I think I've shared that with all of you.

We will go through this process more formally like we traditionally have in years past to go through maybe having a work session in April, might even do it in April maybe to have a work session to see what you all want on this new revised list when we update this list.

We've been working off this list for several years and we've just about completed it.

That will be coming in April.

The process will start in April and probably look to present you with a draft six-year plan for the new year in May and schedule a public hearing, another public hearing at this time.

The main purpose of this hearing today and our budget approval process is really simply to get an FY21

That's all we do here today.

Yes.

Yes.

You know, we started out, Mr. Roger, we went on to do a portion of it.

And after we got over, I said, you know, and I think we talked about it.

We agreed that we needed to revise our project to do it all.

You know, that's something we need to talk about.

You know, in the past, we've done just what we needed to do to cover most of the houses.

But what's happening, we're having a hard time getting back to finishing the entire road.

And to be quite honest with you, it costs most, it always costs more money because there's more, more material.

But, you know, I'm counting the opinion that we could do a whole road while we're there.

We need to do that because, you know, if you do half a road and you got constituents that live on the half that doesn't get paved, they're not happy camping.

I do know, and I guess this is just for the 2021 plans.

I know I gave you several different roads, but Will and Ball Mountain and those are going to be

When we revise the plan, we'll see how they fit into the money.

I didn't bring this up, but we actually are gonna have to talk about one project in the plan when we revise it again, and that is Wilson Road.

We've got a substantial, that project is up

Road is up to be hard surfaced and as many of you know we are scheduling a bridge replacement over there and we need to talk about that to see if we want to pave that road before the bridge replacement or if we want to hold off or go after that to keep all the construction traffic off of it that is

And we'll probably damage that rather than the involved materials coming in there.

But that's something we can talk about offline.

And my point being, if that project, if you all choose to move that project, if that's the agreement and the consensus, that's going to push up, advance all the projects behind it a year or two.

So it would have a big impact.

I don't know if all the citizens are aware of what they wrote or not.

I've been hearing a little bit, and maybe they wanted to remain unpaid, but that's just what you hear, you know?

You know, I'm thinking, I quite understand what you said.

Yeah, I meant it.

I'm trying to think about how many houses are on that road.

I think it's one.

I'm thinking that this is, you know, they have always signs up for, you know, locking.

That's a back entrance into locking.

Is that why the priority is?

That was part of it.

That was the main push on was locking because that is an alternate route that can be used for locking.

I think that was the driving force.

I know some people come from the river,

Go a long record run and take that turn to get back to Lovingston.

That saves a little bit of time.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know other reasons why.

I mean, Wilson's not a high traffic spot.

But people do down on the river.

go up Long Rock arrival and take that right turn.

But it's scenic now.

It is scenic.

You say there's that one house on it.

I don't know of any.

It's mostly, it's not low.

It's cut through traffic, but not the residents.

Is that during hunting season?

And what I meant by if we delay this project, it's funded at $461,000, so you know, if we push us, I guess, to some other

progress on coming forward.

And I just share that with you for your information.

Well, how much is locking those guys infinity down?

I mean, they always have a sign up there, but I never see anybody.

I can't.

I think I agree with you on that Skip.

I don't know if Wilson's even just pragmatically looking at it.

But you know, we don't.

That's a discussion you all like to have.

So I wouldn't not ask him for a decision because I just bring that up with information.

Sure.

But the bridge is going to be built.

That's already.

Yeah.

Yeah, isn't that Arnieville?

No, no, no, it's, we are the, if I'm not mistaken, we're just concluding the, what they call a 106, and that is the historic, the cultural resource historic preservation process.

We have to go through that since the structure's on the National Historic Register.

Once that is completed, it will move fairly fast.

We're not acquiring any additional right of way.

We want to build a bridge within the 30-foot prescriptive easement that is there.

So it won't really have a right of way phase.

So we will basically go from preliminary engineering to construction phase.

I can't even remember.

Do the Wilsons live on the other side of the bridge?

Do they live on the other side of the railroad?

I think they do.

There is a couple houses there.

We can discuss this.

Does anyone have any other comments that are specific to the tissue plant?

Thank you, Mr. Brown.

Now I will open the public hearing for the VDOT FY 2126 Secondary Six Year Plan.

Anyone like to speak to that?

Mr. Chairman, are you looking for a motion?

I am.

Mr. Chairman, I would like for us to proceed with the FY 21, FY 26 secondary six-year plan R 2021-06.

As presented.

Second.

OK.

Mr. Barton?

Yes.

Mr. Parr?

Yes.

Mr. Rutherford?

Yes.

Yes.

Mr. Brown, I'm going to get to you one more time.

Mr. Parr, do you have any issues addressing Mr. Brown?

Nothing new that we haven't already discussed.

The only thing I wanted to talk about was the through truck and trailer restriction on Reed Scout.

It has been approved.

It has been approved.

And I think, I know the Augusta County, they have put up their signs and we are putting ours up.

They should have been put up.

They were either put up yesterday or they were going up today.

We have them covered.

We have them covered.

I'm thinking they will be uncovered either at the end of this week or the first of next week.

We're still working to give businesses a little bit of time to make preparations to find an alternate route.

I worked with Maureen Kelley to get out a message to the businesses that she regularly communicates with to get the word out to them and also been reaching out personally to some of the businesses that I know would be affected to talk to them to see if there's anything that PDOT can do to help them

helped in getting their freight deliveries.

We do have the alternate route.

I mean, if you read the press release, the alternate route, obviously you can go up 64 to 29 inch off, it'll come back down, because that's unrestricted.

250, 151, and 6, they do have that 65 foot restriction on them.

and that has been my message to businesses that I've contacted.

You can get a permit from DMV that will allow you to travel in front of those and not be ticketed.

That is possible.

It's not a long drawn out thing.

In fact, we have a contact at VDOT that is kind of working as a

Liaison with DMV should they have any problems and not get any permit on timely matters.

But the signs are up.

They're covered.

And again, we should uncover them either late this week or the first of next week.

But we did want to allow some time for businesses to adjust for that restriction.

Where are the signs on our side?

Where are the signs on our side of the mountain?

There are signs on 151 on our side of the mountain and there will be a sign on our side of the parkway as you go across the parkway into Nelson County.

And of course there are signs over in Augusta County at Mountain Point Road.

There are multiple signs over there.

So, you know, this will certainly help out

Is it going to eliminate all the hang-ups up there?

Are trucks going to still come across there?

There's still going to be some probably.

But I did want to report, I am working to make a physical improvement in the acute curve on the Nelson side of the Parkway right adjacent to

right adjacent to the parkway.

I hope to have that completed by now, but I've gotten hung up on a couple of issues with right-of-way and with getting the environmental clearances.

But it is our intention to do significant widening on the outside of that curb, outside shoulder, and as soon as we can do it, as soon as the weather permits,

It's also my goal, our goal, that when we can, when the weather breaks and we get back into paving, paving season, just come in there and do a final paving in that area to take some of the super elevation out of that curve because that isn't a big of a problem, but the trucks getting stuck is anything.

The super elevation is so extreme that it takes the weight off one side of the vehicle and they become localized.

It makes them cool down through the lower side of the curve.

We do plan on doing that, but it hasn't happened.

It's hard to get stuff like that done in the winter when you have snow storms, but it's gonna happen.

Looking back,

I think the shoulder closures, just looking back from last month's concerns, I think the fire rocket folks that have been putting the table on 29th, I think they're out of the county now, but they were shut down.

They were shut down.

Jesse, you mentioned shoulder closure on 694 Naked Creek.

I sent that to our superintendent.

I haven't heard about that, but usually when I send them something, they look at it to see if they can fix it immediately.

Anything else?

I have one thing.

I heard from a constituent the other day about the end of Davis Creek Road, where it goes from being paved to non-paved.

Davis Creek?

Davis Creek Road.

And quite a few residents up there that are interested in seeing that paved and wanted to get that on your radar screen to take a look at it and

Well, when we did the last section, we did it per hall, per lane, per lane.

We added significant stone to that unpaid section of Davis Creek.

If you all wanted to push that up, pretty much the only thing we'd have to do is go in there and shoot it, you know, put the

Asphalt and Stone hard surface on it.

We did a lot of work that road when we did Prairie Lane, so if you all want to put it in there as a quick item, it would not be much work.

Good to hear.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, we're moving on to New and Unfinished Business.

Good afternoon, thank you.

NSD has mentioned possibly post-planning this discussion until all the board members could be here.

I'm fine with proceeding as is.

So I'll go over non-conforming ordinances proposed and Emily, she's been working on the solar energy ordinance and she'll go over the solar energy with you guys.

Back in 2019, a few short months after I was hired in Grand County,

The Planning Commission discussed the initial draft of the non-conforming ordinance.

We provided them a flow chart that gave a couple of options.

One option would have a non-conforming structure after two years.

It would be required to be demolished, relocated, or receive a variance.

And the other option was after two years, the non-conforming structure could be used for permitted use in the zoning district in which it was located.

After some discussion, staff was directed to revise the draft ordinance to reflect the first option,

with a one-time, two-year extension provision added in.

Staff is then asked to evaluate the option of a center lane where a non-performing structure may be used only for then existing or more restricted use.

This allows non-performing structures to be used for the existing grandfather use or more restricted use as long as it is not discontinued for more than two years.

One potential issue with that is called use crease.

which would be where a landowner would obtain a determination from our office that their proposed use is less intensive but could later evolve it into something more intensive just to get them under the regulatory wire.

Another drawback of this approach is that the zoning administrator and the department can make judgmental costs for what are more restricted uses.

Some ways we chose to address this was by collaborating with the building official regarding intensity abuses.

because the statewide buildings are very clear on what types of uses are more restrictive than others by use code.

So that easily addresses structures that are within their initial two-year period.

So the question still is, what should happen to a nonconforming structure after the use is discontinued for more than two years?

The current draft adoption allows a nonconforming structure that has not been used in over two years to be used only for a more restricted use.

This is considered a step-down method where if the property owner has not applied for an extension of grandfathering status and has passed their two-year mark, the structure cannot be used for the previous existing use, but only a more restricted use.

Then the question of else came up.

What happens when the discontinued structures are single-family dwellings and cannot be more restricted than that?

Because it's likely that the majority of non-conforming structures located in the county are single-family dwellings,

The solution to this, which we've done in the draft ordinance, is to indicate that the residential occupancy of the single-family dwelling is the most restricted use.

This would allow the owner of the non-conforming single-family dwelling that has not been occupied in over two years the opportunity to use the structure only at the single-family dwelling.

Another question that came up in the ordinance review was whether the same owner must pay taxes for 15 years in order to maintain their non-conforming status.

After we conferred with the county attorney, it was determined the trigger is the payment of the taxes for 15 years and not whether the ownership remains the same for that 15 years.

That provision protects the structures from removal which rendered the original option virtually toothless that would require relocation and a variance.

Although the structures wouldn't be required to be removed, nothing should stop the property owner from seeking a variance to bring it to compliance so that provision was added in the flow.

The one-time two-year extension request was added back into this draft.

This would allow the property owner more time to establish the then existing or more restricted use prior to exploration, which would be a total of four years.

There's another discussion on what discontinued actually means.

Any use of the structure must be allowable, either as an existing grandfathered use or other permitted use of the zoning district.

In summary, the ordinance was reworked to add an intent section, as well as address non-conforming uses, structures, and lots individually, and by revising the article, it will be clear to make determinations relating to uses, structures, lots, and any combination of those.

Planning Commission held their public hearing on the proposed ordinance on January 27th, and recommended approval to report a supervised decision on public hearing.

Do you have any questions for Ms. Bishop?

I do not have any questions.

I feel like this kind of model is consistent across the Commonwealth.

Yeah, I feel like this is pretty consistent.

Obviously, as we learn more about solar, and we get into it, essentially, this would come down to a special use permit in a lot of ways where we get to help determine some of these locations, correct, for a large farm?

Yes.

All right, cool.

I suspect Mr. Harvey would have something to

I would.

All right, so now we're going to look at the solar ordinance and this is an entirely new proposed ordinance.

So in 2019, Nelson County received several inquiries regarding commercial solar energy systems.

A staff initially looked into the solution of adding it as a destination to the ordinance, but as we looked at it further, it became very clear that they would need to create an ordinance section for this so that they could add things like bonding and decommissioning.

The initial draft of the solar energy ordinance was reviewed by the planning commission on October 28th.

We made some changes and repeated again on November 18th and then we moved it to public hearing on January 7th.

The Planning Commission held the public hearing and recommended approval of the ordinance to the Board of Supervisors with a vote of 5-0.

So the solar energy ordinance, like I said, currently solar for net metering for someone's like individual house or business just to provide power to that structure, that's by right.

Ordinance is to address things like solar farms, so solar for profit.

We separate the solar energy systems by size in this ordinance.

And so we define two different types of solar systems, ones that are under an acre and then over an acre.

So a small solar energy system is anything under one acre and meets different requirements than a large solar energy system, which would

require more, like a major site plan, which is a minor site plan, more oversight to it.

Small solar energy systems would be permitted by Wright in A1, B1, B2, M1, and M2.

And the special use permit in C1, R1, and R2.

Now, large solar energy systems, again, would have more restrictions and more involvement with them,

Yeah, so the definitions are right here on the first page.

I'm sorry, let me rephrase my question.

No, everything would have to go through.

The review process anyway, so you could always deny something for being too large.

Right.

Yeah, M1 is the only one by right, and that's also the least common one.

M2 is going with my right, and that would be to caveat that the primary use of the system is for electrical generation to be sold to the wholesale electricity markets.

Any other questions for Emily?

So Miss Carter, we need a resolution.

Put the memos on the two in order.

All right, got it.

Are you looking for a motion?

Yes.

Chairman, I move that we approve Resolution R 2021-08, N. County Board of Supervisors Authorization Public Hearing, Amendment to the Code, Nelson County, Virginia, Appendix A, Zoning, Article II, Nonconforming Uses, Appendix A, Zoning, Article 22A, Solar Energy, as presented.

Second.

Mr. Barton?

Yes.

Mr. Rutherford?

Yes.

Mr. Parr?

Yes.

Mr. Reed?

Thank you for the planning department.

Steve's report's getting smaller.

We need to add it to his list.

I said your report's getting smaller.

We'll fill it out after this budget session.

Steve?

For the status of COVID-19 virus, we have been able to have at least

We'll be working with the health department to get another group of 20 employees, which can also equip members of the board schedule, but we don't have the information to provide on that yet.

And correction to what I've noted here, we do have the commissioner's office has been impacted by virus.

One of the staff has contracted the virus, and because of close contact, that office is closed this week.

Three of the four staff tested negative.

probably going to have to be tested again because they were tested pretty early after they were realizing the initial close contact.

We are working with the IT department to put a message on the office's general phone number so that they can take the message

their laptop at home and is trying to monitor things as the week progresses.

The Thai River Water System was still waiting to get the tank down.

It was rescheduled to February 19th to the 23rd due to the inclement weather.

The crane company didn't want to come out when it was initially scheduled, I think the first of the month.

due to inclement weather.

So everything else is completed other than the removing elevated water tank.

The Blue Ridge Tunnel Project, we've finished the fiscal projects.

We're just working to close out phase three because it's a state federal project, funded project.

There's a significant amount of paperwork that the county has to file with VDOT to formally close the project out.

And in addition to that,

We're working to install fencing along Depot Lane because of the enormous amount of visitation we've seen and people just parking anywhere and everywhere.

And we're hopefully, maybe sometime next week, gonna be able to solicit quotes to expand the eastern parking lot to add about 25 parking spaces.

Then once that's accomplished, we'll maybe look at the western parking lot.

The board looked at the Parks and Rec Department's report

We've had at least 30,000 visitors to the tunnel.

We have trail calendars, and we've probably missed a few people, so it's been somewhat overwhelming, the number of people who, even this past Saturday, I think one of the parks and rec staff is up there, and cars everywhere.

Well, it is, hopefully as the board knows, it is a pretty cool thing.

We're still trying to get the state agencies to confirm the dates for this meeting on state and local requirements for breweries, wineries, you know, the agricultural provisions that enable structures to be built without building permits, the concerns the board's expressed.

still generally in contact with various state agencies and hopefully in March.

It may be a work session, which as Mr. Brown said, maybe if it is a work session, we could combine that with the six-year plan work session.

The board planning session, I sent the board an email with sort of a strategy.

So we're hoping to start work on those top five priorities and just keep the board apprised because

Ultimately, we'll bring the information back to the board on the outcomes of studies, costs, et cetera.

Then we'll do some plans and finance, but then the board will have to decide if you actually want to do, or if the county is able to do this, one or all five of those projects.

That work will take some time.

The Piney River Wastewater System, I reported on this previously.

We've awarded a contract with Patterson Construction

who's out of Fredericksburg to repair the primary conservation on Route 56.

It's manufactured by Simco.

The contract's been awarded, they've signed it, and they're doing non-accidents work to the end of March.

It should be a pretty quick turnaround once they do start.

The general pre-assessment is still in process.

Both Ms. McGarry and I reached out to the main assessor just to see if they could provide a stance.

It's still too early to know what we may expect next December with respect to outcomes of the reassessment.

Mr. Edens from the firm did note to Candy that

taking their values, but it's still too early to, we can't, we just don't know yet.

The budget, hopefully we will present to the board, hopefully the last week of February, or maybe probably the first week in March.

We're at a point now where the initial drafts of the budget have been completed, but we need to work

Questions?

That is all of the agency requests.

I would just suggest, I think Annie, maybe back in December, submitted a proposed schedule, but it seemed like it works better for the board once we have that first meeting that you all have consensus on a weekly schedule.

to coordinate your schedules.

We're gonna hopefully have a good, you know, sufficient condition that it's gonna be easy to work through, and of course, it's always a challenge, but if you're comfortable with that, then we'll just try to target a date that works to reduce the budget, and then at that first session, the board can really set its own schedule.

And years past, we presented schedules, and it doesn't seem to always work very well,

If we say Tuesday, Thursday, the board may say no.

Absolutely.

No.

I'm just going to ask for the actual spreadsheet at some point.

Did you?

Yes, sir.

What'd you send it?

Great.

Great.

I think we're fine.

Can we do that under other business?

OK.

Thank you.

Social services is still without a home.

It has gotten money for another, I think two positions at the social services where they have no place to put.

And they're going to try to find a place and what they've been doing for 20 years.

Sooner or later we have to deal with it.

and clearly we do.

And also along with that is that I want to talk about every time is the need for people to look, what are they called?

Parents, foster parents.

It's a continuous need.

and just one or two can make a huge difference.

I actually want to back you up on the foster parent topic.

I know that's such a huge, huge, it's always been a struggle here in Nelson and of course my family has a history of being

having been foster families, my father and my mother, as well as Daniel, Kate, and the list goes on.

I do know, I think you get that there's now an opportunity to take the classes virtually, if I'm not mistaken.

I think, I'm gonna double check on that, but I think there's some foster classes that you cannot take virtually, and I think that needs to be advertised more often.

I know I've shared that on social media prior,

But I think more would amplify that because our foster child population only increases every year.

I agree.

And it's a problem that has existed for decades.

A long time.

And it doesn't ever seem to get better.

Mr. Rutherford, do you have any other reports?

Mr. Chairman, I think the only piece that I have, we met with TJPDC.

Obviously we're sad to see Chip Boyle's transition as the director of TJPDC and now go to Charlottesville council city manager position.

That's a lot to him there.

We have some fun opportunities obviously moving in the future on

How we look at affordable housing and broadband, we're trying to look at those things more on a regional basis and I think housing of course is an issue and we struggle with it here in Nelson still, but it's important that we look at it on a regional basis because the struggles of Charlottesville and Albemarle end up being waves that hit Nelson County and our loss, our struggles of housing needs, you know, our, excuse me, struggle of housing supply.

So I think that's going to be a very, that's going to be amplified topic as we go into the new year.

Of course with COVID, you know, things have been different with obviously no foreclosures and mortgage mitigations and obviously rent relief coming in from the state.

So we're seeing what that could look like over the next year, but we know it's only going to be amplified.

So I think those are going to be some very big priorities going in there into the future with TJPDC and

Beyond that, the other places I have to report with broadband, as we all know, universal hookup.

I missed the last Water Authority meeting, so that's your, you can tell us what happened.

Thanks, Mr. Rutherford.

Mr. Parr.

EMS Council did not meet this past time, but they did do a mass communication

The vote on the two proposed projects, CARES Act funding, Piney River project was approved and the Gladstone project was not.

And they will be presenting that, I believe, at the March meeting.

It just came in recently, so it'll show up for us to discuss next month.

But just wanted to let you know that they did discuss that PMS council.

OK.

From the Planning Commission, we had a great discussion with Dylan leading up to today's ordinance approvals that are going to public hearing.

Planning Commission has also moved to the Board of Supervisors, which I think we'll see next month, a proposal for a cell tower on Jonesboro Road, North Cut Creek.

Was there a reason why that wasn't this month?

Just advertising again?

How can we work with that?

and the history is we used to advertise them currently with planning commissions, meetings, or the ads were developing currently for both the meetings, but then we would historically have problems with the commission carrying the matter over and we'd have to re-advertise.

Well, they might not, we are.

Also, as a follow-up to the joint meeting that the Board of Supervisors had with the school board, we have a joint planning committee that will be meeting soon.

I was in touch with Mr. Chief, we have Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Parr will be serving on that committee with two members of the school board.

to talk about capital priorities.

And we'll be doing a series of two-on-twos with the other supervisors.

And Mr. Barton and I will be meeting with two other school board members and moving forward with that.

We had a great meeting and look forward to building on that relationship and working together at the schools.

We have one-two vacancy on the Region 10 Community Services Board.

Diane Jacobs sat down from the board, and we actually have an application from Patricia Heggy.

I don't know if I'm saying her name right.

But she stated she could not start until May or June.

So I wasn't sure what you all want to do with that.

We do have another representative

Representative on that board, Peggy Whitehead, I believe.

I think just keeping it open for the time being, if anybody else is interested, would be fine.

Otherwise, we have a strong candidate waiting in the wings.

So I think it's appropriate.

Let's see if we work out.

I did have one, actually two, and this is a question you could answer pretty good.

We are waiting for

confirmation for the federal entity to move forward with that.

It'll probably be closer to third quarter this year or so.

I know that the Information Services Department is already looking at that and Susan Moore is noted, but it's still subject to actually doing the work that the districts may not actually change.

I have a question too about COVID.

Well, the Blue Ridge Health District and of course the overall state agency health and human services.

We're in the board and the county staff are in charge of any of that.

And we've just helped with the location, for example, the Nelson Center is a center for inoculations.

But the distribution of the vaccines, the schedule, the clinics, et cetera, are all done administratively in operation

We did hear, I guess last week, one of the governor's news conferences, the state is receiving, I should have reported on this earlier, I think 23% more vaccine, but that's still not significant.

Do we have a projected reopening of the second floor here?

The second floor?

What we discussed internally is now that we're getting staff inoculated, once everyone has been able to at least be offered to be

But it's still uncertain as to when that may happen.

We've had a set of reported 20 staff in several departments to cumulatively receive the vaccine.

But we still have a large number of people to be scheduled.

And we actually have a number of people who refuse to be vaccinated.

But yeah, if the board wanted to reopen, we could do that.

OK. Do we have any directives?

I just want to make sure that this has been a popular topic going into the work session.

Making sure that we're putting some level of priority on the comprehensive plan.

Just making sure that that's a potential and making sure that's being added.

Yeah, well, I've seen the distant graft expenditure side.

Well, I have, of course, resonant expenditure.

As I recall, Candice can correct

We'll have all that for the board to take a look at that first budget work session.

We don't expect you to make decisions and everything immediately, but we'll have that available for you, of course.

Probably we'll have a list of considerations from A to Z and what the cost proposals are

We've been serving a whole lot of information into the budget and showing what could be a huge deficit and then having the board decide, oh we're going to cut all this out.

We sort of prefer to balance the budget and show you what your ability is and then a list of considerations that you can decide on.

It makes it easier for us and hopefully for you all too.

There will be projects or

Great.

Making sure you ask for it, right?

I'm not sure if this is a directive or if it falls under the category, but from the meetings we had last week having to do with capital and schools, et cetera, we need to deal with the issue of the health department.

We need to make a decision on that.

And from what I see, the one negative is location of the Heritage Center.

But what I thought about was the health department, it's not as essential, let's say, as the social services.

It's essentialized and it's placed.

Plus there are all sorts of positives

that have to do with that facility being located at the Heritage Center in terms of our community and in terms of what that Heritage Center can offer our community as a whole.

But what it comes down to is what other alternative do we have?

To me, it's a really positive idea to put the

and Alexander Baer.

And I would do it no matter what.

But also, we need to do something.

And we could resolve this issue if we would write a little letter that says that we think it's a good idea to be there.

So I know Tommy's not here, and I know it's an important issue.

It sounds fair, but I just want to emphasize there's some real positive things to having that facility there.

It's not just having to do with health.

And I have a second thing that I would like to address that I think is very important.

And I need to ask you to do something for me.

I think our community needs a place to swim.

I don't think it needs to be an indoor facility.

I think it needs to be a place where the entire community of Nelson County can kind of be together and share recreation, share each other's company.

And I wonder if you would do for me is find out what that would cost.

We also have to find a place for it, which is

I'd like you to think about it, but I'd also like to, and I, you know, I, if it's finding you, I'd like to meet with the recreation person and talk about this and find out what it would cost because I think it would be feasible and it should be done as soon as possible.

So I think the board, and I'm sure you were copied, sort of a strategy via email probably late last week on how we would have moved forward at the staff level with the five priorities the board established on the 29th.

What the staff plans to do is work on this spot for audiences.

We may not work on them all.

In talking about those priorities, there are some, including I think you, who believe that that had to be some sort of elaborate recreational

System that would be very costly.

I would like to see the cost control as much as possible in terms of an outdoor, summer-only recreation area.

One of the things that's interesting is finding a place that is centralized in its location.

And I believe that if we make it public, that we are really thinking about doing this, that we will have a lot of people who also agree with that and possibly might suggest a place that the facility could be located.

I know you think that that's not realistic, but I don't know.

It's not my decision.

The board put it, there was a thing about the pool, and everybody put their little dot on it.

But it wasn't established what that exactly meant.

I mean, the priority was recreation.

Of course that's priority.

Then you need, if I may, have the other three members of the board agree with your priority and tell us that's what you want us to do.

Because we're going to look at it from a broader picture and respect it because this

Yeah, I know that.

Yeah.

Thank you, Ms. Barton.

I'd like to add to that, that including that many feasibility study, Ms. Barton's suggestion, I think is vital for recreation in Nelson County.

I also

Realize now, which I don't think we realized during our meeting, that combining social services and health department is maybe not a good idea, and they should be decoupled somehow.

Still a priority, but not necessarily one home for both, not a basic home or one concurrent home.

The other point is that

As I said, if I may,

We won't not keep the board informed on these things.

We will keep you informed.

I mean, we just got the priority list on the 29th and outlined the strategy to you all, I think last Friday or so.

I mean, I just want to be clear.

I don't make these decisions.

The board does.

And if you want to change them, that's certainly your perspective.

But if you come to my meeting and say, I want this, you all have to decide.

So kind of how this rolls down and how this discussion works when we start to do big projects like this.

It's a feasibility study and often times when we've done this with Lovingston, we've done this with many others and you can look at other prior BERs, RFPs,

You give a number of scenarios, and engineers give scenarios as to like, hey, this is what we do with this number.

And then sometimes, actually, an engineer might have a better idea than us.

And they'll be like, by the way, we saw this, and this might work.

So what you're asking for is not inappropriate.

It's fine to ask for it.

But please understand that it's a number of scenarios.

We're going to be given probably, I don't know, half a dozen scenarios to work with, and given dollar amounts for each one.

We're going to come up with some.

Staff might think of a good idea that won't cost them to say, hey, by the way, let's add in this or omit this.

And even the engineering firm has a critical role in this, not necessarily deciding, but they'll see some efficiencies that we don't see.

And that's a healthy thing.

This particular scenario that I'm talking about, I don't want omitted.

It's not omitted.

Nobody's admitting it.

Yeah.

There will be options or scenarios and with each of the projects, assuming we can work through all five this year or so, we'll show you your options, what each option may cost on a cost estimate basis, subject to bidding, and we'll also show you a plan of finance for one or all five

You know, it's really funny because one of the things I used to say with the choice is really they pretend that it's freedom, but really what it means is control.

It's like you have a choice between Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola.

That's no choice at all.

I'm not I'm not you know, I'm saying what we need in Nelson County

is a place where grandparents and young parents can bring their children and learn to swim and congregate with each other.

And that's a really wonderful thing to have.

We're adding it to the feasibility.

Thank you, Mr. Parr.

You're welcome.

Mr. Parr, anything else for you?

No, sir.

I'm done.

Any other business?

Mr. Carter?

Yes, sir.

Okay.

Motion to adjourn?