n
second thank you we have a motion in a
second to come out of executive session
Mr Lester thank you madam
chair this certification of close
session pursue it to subsection 2.2 3712
D of the public Virginia 1950 as
amended each member of the Board of
Supervisors up roll call certifies that
the best of their knowledge only public
business matters lawfully Exempted from
the open meeting requirements under the
Virginia Freedom of Information Act and
only such public business matters that
were identified in the Motions by which
the close meeting was convened were
heard discussed or considered in the
meeting by the Board of
Supervisors any member of the Board of
Supervisors who believes that there was
a departure from the requirements shall
stay so prior to the vote indicating
substance of that departure and his or
her judgment has taken place are there
any supervisors who believe that it was
the departure that has taken
place being none if you agree that the
matters heard discussed or considered
during the closed meeting were pursuant
only to the Motions by which the closed
meeting was convened please signify by
saying yay or
yes Andrew Hensley yes Tara D
yes David E yes Steve bready
yes Rebecca D yes Nate kaer yes Len
Wallace yes ma'am you have approval to
return to regular session thank you Mr
ler at this time I will ask that you
take back over for our organizational
meeting
please thank you madam
chair the first thing that's
up before the board right now is the
Russell County Board of super visor
chairman
election I'd like to open the floor for
nominations of the Russell County 2024
Russell County Board of supervisor
chairman Lester I'd like to nominate
Steve breeding to that position
please is there any other
nominations I at all nominations be
closed please
I'll
say all in
favor all nominations for the Russell
County Board of Supervisors is now
closed let's do a show of hands since
there's only one nominee all for Steve
breeding for the Board of Supervisors
2024
chairman I'll raise hands say no
congratulations State bring as the
Russell
County the standard is congratulations
or
condolence you said it moving right
along next item on the agenda is the
election of the vice chair so I'll open
up the floor for nominations of Vice
chair I'd like to nominate David Eaton
please David even nominated there other
nominations I move all nominations
cease have have a
second second the second that nomination
cease and Mr be elected to acclamation
all in favor I all opposed
G next we have the uh selection the
clerk of the board and historically it's
always been the County
Administrator so I'll entertain a motion
for Mr Lester to be named Clerk of the
Court Clerk of the
board Kati where
you have to run for
election cler put him
over I move that um Mr Lonzo Lester be
uh elected as the clerk of the board and
the deputy clerk please I'll second it I
have a motion second any discussion if
not all in favor sign saying I I I'll
oppose likeon and there are n and I
understand you want to carry the uh
appointment of the Deputy clerk over
till next till fulfill yes
sir uh next is the adoption of Robert's
Rules of Order entertain a motion for
that I'll make that motion motion to
accept Robert tr's order and then have a
second second have a motion and a second
any discussion if not all in favor SE
five saying I I oppose like sign there
are none okay now we come to the
adoption of the county bylaws so we'll
need a motion to accept the bylaws and
uh
second I'll make that
motion had a motion and a second to
accept bylaws as are presented uh any
discussion have there been any changes
Mr
no ma'am I I would urge all board
members to take these bogs home with you
and set down they need desperately to be
upgraded I to modernize don't you think
Mr Lester yes sir yes they they do we
need we need to change those
things so let's try to bring those back
to uh if you can get them into Mr Lester
and maybe he can compile all the
comments and we'll look at it next board
meeting but I think it's we're desperate
to get those things
Chang okay now the time to set the uh
regular we need V we vot sorry all in
favor okay there are uh time set the
regular meeting schedule for the Board
of Supervisors in
2024 been the
same same
time Steve I'd like to make a motion
that we uh move our meetings to Saturday
mornings at 9:00 a.m. for convenience of
the public and for uh those of us who
actually have N9 to5 jobs and
work no I have a motion to have
second second have a motion and second
any
discussion there's no discussion all in
favor see five say I Ste make
clarification real the first Saturday of
the month first first
set any further
discussion okay I'd like to have a
discussion please um I I understand
where you're coming from on this but um
how much more is this going to cost the
county for us to have another day and
um is that a normal thing that we see
and what does the rest of the board feel
about this I understand Mr Kaiser
understand your position I do understand
that you knew that the board was meeting
on certain days when you took the
position and so I I would not be in
favor of this at
[Applause]
all further discussion yeah I would say
that the hours are no different than the
hours we're spending right now this is
after hours Mr Lester was here all day
working uh so we're after hours there
and so the hours will be no different
and when elected not appointed or placed
here but elected by the people it's our
job as the board to decide what's best
and so as a majority and I respect your
disagreement but we will decide that
now any further
discussion if not all in favor of this
motion signify by saying I I
I let me go back and say this all in
favor of this motion raise your
hand okay all
opposed
two motion
carries so the meeting boards the board
meeting dates will be 9:00 a.m. Saturday
the first Saturday morning of each
month
okay next item on the agenda is the
approval of a minutes for the December
11th 2023 meeting I think this is one
the old board members will have to
approve
yeah oh
bu yeah uh I'm getting ahead of myself
here uh we need to approve the 2425
board uh budget meeting schedule which
is carried in your in your
package I need a motion to approve that
schedule a second I'll make the
motion motion
second I'll second for discussion okay
have motion to
say okay discussion on this
matter
so is this going to be a tw- member
board or is this going to be all of us
for these meetings this will have to be
a two- member board until we change the
bylaws bylaws specific to
members so we we're in violation bylaws
last
year I think you can do that Mr
chair without changing the bylaws
I am I correct
sir way I read them yeah yeah I mean I
mean I that's one reason that's one
reason I want to change those bylaws
because I think everybody does need to
be a part of the budget but right now if
we've accepted the bylaws we're we're
you know restricted to two members yeah
so you're already changing the board
meeting so that the next board meeting
attorney and I was sitting here
discussing so we can go ahead include
all these changes into the new bons
correct
yes any further
discussion if not I'll in favor of this
motion to signify of saying I I I'll
oppose like there
are okay now we come to the approval of
the minutes and again this is for
December the 11th
2023 I think our four old board members
can approve this so I'll entertain a
motion to approve these minutes uh I
might add that did you get the
corrected it's in the package okay I'll
make a motion have a motion do I have a
second second motion second to approve
the December 11th 2023 corrected minutes
discussion if not all in favor see5 say
I I all who wish to
abstain so all the new members are
staining now we have come to the
approval of our expenditures to consider
the expenditures that were included in
your packet if you had an opportunity to
look at it just Now's the Time to ask
questions about it I think Mr Lester
probably pass are you going did you pass
out a sheet with all the codes and I'm
still consolidating sir I'm down to 47
pages I know I had to do it
long at any rate Mr ler will get
everybody a copy of that cheat sheet
shows off codes it'll make it a little
bit easier for you to review those but
uh we need to go
ahead I'll entertain a motion to approve
these payments I'll make the motion
second have a motion and a second any
discussion now it's time to ask
questions if you got concerns or
questions about any items on this
spreadsheets and until then if you're
looking through it later I'll be glad to
answer any questions CU everything we
got is documented documented documented
so okay all in favor of this motion
signy saying I
oppos like that there are
none okay now we need to approve the
authorized payments there is a there is
a list there that some of the routine
operational payments need to be approved
pre-approved so that we won't cut our
electricity and our phones off I'll make
that motion z a motion in a second to
authorizes
prepayments any discussion all in favor
see say I those like sign are
okay now we're come down to the
committee appointments first one up here
is the Cumberland Plateau Economic
Development
executive so I'll open
up Mo entertain motions for placement on
that Mr chair yes I would like to
nominate yourself Steve breeding to this
board that's concurrent with term please
and Mr chair I'd like to nominate Lan
Wallace myself Miss Wallace nominated
I'll nominate David
Eaton two positions here should we do
one position at a time legal counsel
prer to do one at a time one at a time
I'll
my as well
okay so who we got now
myself me
okay any other
nominations okay I'll ask for a vote all
in
favor all
opposed okay thank you now we'll open it
up for the second person on this SC Mr
chair I'd like to nominate Mo Wallace
blue W Mr chair I nominate David Eden
David
Eden are there other
nominations if not we'll do it in
reverse order that's the process so all
in favor of David Eaton raise your right
hand all in favor of Lou
Wallace two
next on the item is the uh there are two
slots for board members for the C
Plateau Economic Development commission
which is a quarterly
meeting uh so I'll open up the board or
open the floor to uh nominate people
board members for those two positions
first one first one is the position of
Carl reg so let's look that one first Mr
chair I nominate
terod
terod other
nominations and for the other slot Nate
kais the other slot Nate let's do one at
time got do one at time okay so I have
Tara are there other
nominations if
not all in favor I I'll oppose
like now okay I'd like to nominate Nate
Kaiser have Nate
Kaiser there any other
nominations if not all in favor of this
motion I all
oppose okay we have a vacant position on
the Planning Commission uh Mr Christian
was on that so we need to replace him uh
I'll open up the floor for nominations
there I'd like nominate ter have terod
nominated to go Planning Commission
anybody
else make a motion nomination cease and
will
ter motion that nomination cease and uh
terod be elected by acclamation on any
second of that second motion and second
any discussion
if not all in favor signify to saying I
I I'll
like next one we have is on the Regional
Jail Authority and currently and had Mr
Christian and Mr LEL on that and both of
those gentlemen are no longer on the
board so I'll open up the floor for
nominations I nominate Nate
kaer have a nomination for Nate kaer any
others if there no others I'll call for
the vote on this all in favor of Nate
casri the Regional Jail board C5 saying
I I I'll oppose like sign
no Mr chair I would like to nominate uh
yourself Ste breeding for the other
PL have a nomination for Steve greeding
any further
nominations if not I'll call for the
vote all in favor signify to saying I I
all opposed like
s now we come back to the Cumberland
Plateau Regional Waste Authority we have
two positions there Tim Le lace and Carl
Ray i' like to make a motion for uh or
not like to nominate Nathan kaer okay
CER any further nominations for that
position to replace Tim
LEL if not I'll ask for the vote all in
favor signify the saying I I allose
likeon okay now we have a need a person
to replace Carl Ray Mr chair I'd like to
nominate Andrew Hensley okay I have
Andrew
Hensley any further
nominations okay if there are none I'll
call for the vote all in fav sign the
say I those like
sign next on the next on the item is the
chief elected official work uh Cleo
board which is Workforce Development
board so I'll open up the floor for
those
nomination I nominate St
read are there other
nominations if not I'll call for the
vote all in favor signify saying I I all
like
saying next will be the budget finance
committee which the chairman appoints I
cor Lono yes sir put I'm going ask David
to serve with me on that
board and we can we'll work a way to
expand that once we do the
bylaw try to hear
okay uh requires no V appointment Co
Hall Road Commission Tim
L served on that and I guess the reason
Tim had is because his district had
probably the fewest paved roads in the
county so I'll open it up for
nominations and since you just said that
I'm going to uh nominate Andrew
Henson Andrew
appreciate
any other
nominations if not all in favor of this
motion see say
iose like sign there are none okay now
vny Community Center uh these are care
these would be your appoints yeah I
would actually like to carry these over
to February so that I can talk to some
people Okay carry it over you just tell
us when you want to make those points
we'll get back on the
agenda uh the next one is spearhead
trail trail
blazers I'd like to make a
recommendation we put that off also
until we get some of these new board
members acclimated and understanding of
what's going on with
that we'll carry that one over as well
okay
uh this brings us down to point where we
had point where we had added some
additional considerations on there and
the first one was consider
ation uh of the Ida
appointments and the reason for this is
that uh his last board
meeting Mr uh Tony Dodie was removed
from the
board U being a longterm member and
being a member of the Town Council uh we
researched it we found out that through
from Dennis Jones and also o from Philip
Puget that the intent of the law was
that those two members had to be from
the governing body of that particular
town the reason being
because uh the reason they were
appointed on there that were allowed to
appointment is they often carried a $2
million Bond there's a point in time
probably I guess eight years ago the
town the county couldn't get couldn't do
our own bonding I mean we we're
operating on a as Mr Lester says so $3
million Revenue
anticipation so uh we relied on the town
greatly to go in and do these bonds and
in M of the town we wouldn't have been
able to have anything even previously to
that day so uh I think what we need to
do we we talked about it and uh I think
probably what we need to do is
resend the appointment of Mr Sher who
replace
doie and then we would that would open
up that slot and then we could put Mr
doie back on there so I guess what I'll
do now according according to council we
can you when you do this when you resend
a motion if you get prior notice to it
all it requires is a majority vote but
if you don't serve notice which it
hasn't been served you have to M you
have to pass it by 2/3 majority majority
vote so we'll see how this one
goes so I'll entertain a motion to
resend the Nom send the election Mr Sher
I guess on on that upon on the
attorney's advice attorney ad I'll make
that motion to resend that motion that
was
made I'll need a
second do I need to read
this to
reconsider no
receive
okay I have a second Mr Kaiser
discussion
please I thought I may be wrong I'll go
back and check but I thought that Tim Le
nominated
Mr he took Mr Christian
off see Mr Christian was his appoint
no
am I correct Mr Les
refres M
Mr shrer replaced Tony doie that was the
first one that was in the S session of
order yes we nominated Tony doie the
second time yes we did you you took him
off there as well okay so I have a
motion in a second to resend that motion
to remove Mr shraer apologies to Mr
shraer really shouldn't have happened so
I'll I'll call for a vote on all in
favor signify saying I I all oppos
like
n okay let's do it by show hands all in
favor signif by by saying I or raise
your right
hand five all oppos raise your right
hand two 5 two so that motion
carries now what we have to do would be
to open up the floor for
nominations Mr chairman I'd like to
nominate Tony Dodie have nomination Mr
doie to be placed back on the
Ida a second I'll second have a motion
and a second discussion yes uh so we
we've been discovering that our other
little towns in our county has borrowing
power so um I'm going to ask Council
what we do if we run up on some other
issues
I would I would say that when this was
written in 2002 it said two of the
members shall come from a town that has
used his baring capacity at that time so
I would say that if we decide to use
whether it's St Paul or uh haker uh who
might have that ability to do that then
we would have to come back uh before the
board you have the ability to appoint
nine members and then they would be
entitled to two members and two m
members this probably needs to be
changed in the general assembly to
address this issue but right now if you
decided I would say uh Miss Wallace if
you decided to do that then or the
county decided to do that then we would
have to put someone two members from
haker Council on or to members from St
Paul Council on if we went down that
road it's only if they needed to uh
provide it to if they agreed to provide
it yeah if they agreed to provide $2
million in a loan which I'm not sure
they would but you know they might
but I mean you know we might need it at
some point in time if there's a big deal
that comes through the ID or somebody
needs so you never know thank you Mr
councel any further
discussion if not all in favor of this
motion raise your right
hand all oppos raise your right hand
two motion
carries okay the next one is consider
itation of the DSs
appointments sometime ago I'd ask Katie
P was a cany attorney at that point too
um because we had originally Rebecca's
been on there what 12 years or 16
years I think in any normal board member
can only serve for two consecutive terms
and then come
off well caddy found in the in the
regulation in her bylaws that for a
board to be a board representative which
m d was that you there were no
restrictions on the number of terms on
your board to uh on your service but
that you serve at the pleasure of the
board which is where we're at now now I
think so uh I guess what we need to do
is if somebody wants to make an
appointment or want to replace Miss D we
need a motion to that I'd like to make a
motion that we replace Miss D with terod
die I have a motion do I have a
second I'll second no a motion and a
second open for
discussion so uh we are starting to set
a presence if we need to remove someone
from the board we can is that
correct say that again I said we are
starting to set a presidence that we can
remove someone from a board right well
only if they serve at the pleasure of
the board and I mean that's that's
written directly into the bylaws of the
DS any further
discussion if not all in favor this
motion raise your right
hand I'll oppose right hand
two
now the last item that we added on was
consideration of the
Highway Safety
Committee I'll open up the floor for
that I'd like to make a motion to
immediately dissolve the Highway Safety
Committee pending verification from V
Dot that elimination will not jeopardize
the safety of Russell County Citizens
and I'd like to hit on some discussion
if we get a second I'll second a motion
and the second to dissolve the highway
safety uh commission immediately open
for discussion go ahead Mr I'm I'm not
an attorney we have one here today but
uh I see this board is kind of doubling
down on what the taxpayer already pays
for uh the
taxpayer in Virginia pays for V do and
in Russell County we pay for a highway
safety board now safety is important but
our County Administrator can put on our
website the route that you would take to
contact B dot if you see safety issues
within the county and that can be done
by any citizen sitting in here today
without the taxpayer having to pay for a
board to do
this any further discussion I don't I
don't have a problem with what Mr
Hensley said but um sometimes this has
been a really handy dandy thing to have
and I've never thought of it as having a
dissolution but I I don't guess I'd be
opposed to it however um sometimes we
have things that don't get done and and
the Highway Safety Committee has dogged
those things so I can see a good bad and
whatever on it so how much does this
board cost the county does anybody know
it cost a a meal at banza at least once
a month for all board
[Music]
[Applause]
members Mr ler what $50 Sten on that
that is correct $50
$50
BL it's about $4,000 a year
45,000 i' say Mr chairman has a promise
made and a promise kept Mr Hensley
cutting government spending I like
it any further
discussion there's no further
discussion say no further discussion I'm
going to call for the vote all in favor
signify say I
I'll
that
ends that particular section and we come
to Citizens comment
period get the sheet people who signed
up to comment we couldn't find one it's
outside I guess we'll make one
then
I
having okay first on the list is Mr
Randy
Burke you're familiar with all the
rules first welcome all the new board
members 5 and two's hurt
don't V hurt when it's 5 and two against
said what it was but uh I know there's
going to be changes made and I'm glad
we're going to have some changes made
one change I would like to see I rode by
Pizza town today about 1:00 a little
after
one there was I didn't see it till I was
on top of it and looked over I saw six
Deputy cars at least that I got count
friend of mine called me and said no
there was two more there and three town
ww there do we need eight de who's
protecting the
C if they're all out of Pizza Town
eating who's protecting the C I can see
a couple people going I don't know who
boss is if over who but that's one of
the changes we need we don't need all of
them out there at one time and everybody
here if you R by Pizza to lunch time you
know it's there every day there's four
or five cars sitting there every day and
there's about 12 today I just wonder who
who's protected in the county when
they're all out there
eating and and I support Bill hey he won
the election I support him I might not
went for him but I'll support him till
he gives me a reason not
to
uh another thing I've noticed is there's
a thing in there for constitutional
officer
reports I've never say a constitutional
officer get up in here and give a report
if we're feeding them money why ain't
they in here giving reports and we are
the ones feeding the money it's our
taxes it's our stuff I want to see some
Constitution officers give some
reports you know one I'd like to know is
when we're going to start making drug
rest and and a question for all of you
when's the last time we had seizure
s when's the last time probably about 14
years ago when we had a real seizure
sale that's a lot of money that could go
to taxes it's a seizure sale Jonesboro
sold 80 some
Vehicles we all admit there's a drug
problem in
living said it and Johnny said it in
Russell
County then there should be some
Vehicles there should be some guns there
should be some stuff turned in that we
can sell so I'd like to see some seizure
sales take place I'd like to see some
rest take place if we're going to at do
what they want to do if we're going to
restripe our cars and we're going to
change our
uniforms let's get some arrest it goes
back to the Steve D area I know it's not
all on Bill they were eating at Pizza
Town when Steve was there there was no
arrest
in so whoever is in charge of putting a
little fire under the fire CH Park door
we can see some arrest and some seizure
Sals and quit having 15 of them out
there it one TR see enti
PS let a couple of go e that's fine but
we don't need
police next is Amy
Branson to four Davis Memorial Dr C so
I'm going to talk about the $35 million
that Governor y proposed for the Bristol
dump um Glenn Yun States us Virginians
were blessed to be surrounded by an
abundance of treasured natural resources
this investment delivers on my
administration's steadfast commitment to
ensure our natural resources are
preserved for future Virginians to enjoy
Bristol city leaders have worked with
State leaders for more than a year to
try to secure funding to assist with the
landfill cost these funds will be used
to pay for the financial commitments
that the city has made to comply with
the consent decree it entered with
Virginia DEQ and the Office of the
Attorney General of Virginia to
implement the list of remediation
projects recommended by the expert panel
to address the issues with the Bristol
Landfield but it could be months before
Bristol leaders know if they can cash
that $35 million check and until then
the city staring down the barrel of
nearly 300 million in long-term debt
liability much of it attributed to
current and future expenditures for its
shuttered Landfield that sobering news
was presented to the Bristol city
council by independent Auditors the
state's 35 million would pay for steps
taken to address the many issues with
the Landfield but would not impact the
city's previous 102 million in long-term
debt or would it assist with the closing
of the landfill and the required post
closure monitoring which adds an
estimated $90 million to the bill the
EPA requires post monitoring for a
Landfield for 30
years Bristol mayor Neil osbor said it's
a startling amount when you look at our
long-term obligations which include an
estimated amount for post closure
monitoring it's a really big number
almost 300 million we're a city of
177,000 people it is scary it is very
scary uh last year sister Bristol C
sister City Bristol Tennessee sued
Bristol Virginia to complete a series of
the projects recommended by the state
panel of experts to try to address the
problems with the landfill the city
recently borrowed $3.7 million which
includes a 2.86 million gas collection
system a 1.6 million sidewall odor
mitigation system a liner for 3 million
a storm water management system for 4.8
million a $6.7 million Benzene removal
system and the source of the Benzene is
still
unknown so we've talked about the
financial costs that are visible for a
landfill but what about the other costs
what about the increase in cost of
health care for our citizens what about
the fact this landfill will make people
sick what about the effects on tourism
in our area will any new businesses come
here will any new citizens come here or
will the taxpayers that are currently
here leave the county for better and
safer opportunities what about the
destruction of our beautiful home and
ecosystem and I just think to myself
what could the county in this area have
done with $35
million if we weren't cleaning up a mess
thank
[Applause]
you
is it Tammy
Garrett Tammy
Garrett she's
coming good evening I'm T Garrett 336
Russell Street Leon this is my third
time addressing you all over the
Landfield um for your new the new one
and just as a reminder I'm going to pick
up where I left off the last time when I
ran out of time the cost of the
landfills um are overwhelmingly
underpriced and again I'm going to state
that this is not um my opinion this is
research that I've done uh what I'm
going to talk about tonight is still
coming from the National Institute of
Health so United States Landfield
companies only need to monitor Landfield
for 30 years um after they're closed
after this relatively brief period of
time the taxpaying public is responsible
and remains liable for the degradation
of the facilities and any environmental
impacts and costs that are
incurred in Canada by contrast landfills
are required to be monitored for
400
years now I'm going going to an article
um from virginia.org about Landfield in
Virginia the catlet mountain Landfield
was used by Front Royal in Warren
counties it closed in the
1970s four decades later 40 years later
excessive rainwater seeped through the
clay cap and into the nearby creeks in
the counties the counties had to spend
over 200
$100,000 to build a rainwater diversion
system so this was 40 years after the
Landfield was capped and
closed now Mr breeding last month when
you spoke you stated that your children
don't live here and your grandchildren
don't live here you have children that
are far away if they did come back here
and move here would you want them to be
living near
Landfield because someone's children and
someone's
grandchildren are going to be living
near a
Landfield people are going to be living
near Landfield if we allow this to
happen the last thing I want to address
is
this several people have mentioned that
the Board needs to be more transparent
and you all told us last month that you
were hoping you would be more
transparent with us
but I want you to know that if you
haven't already heard there are rumors
circulating in the county that money has
changed hands in the
county for this Landfield to come into
the county and that's why we need
transparency we need to know what is
going on with this because the rumors
are very very bad they look very bad on
the board and they look very bad on the
county so we do need the transparency
and I hope very soon that's going to
happen thank
[Applause]
you okay next we have Gary
[Music]
Hughes Gary H
uh 175 Community Church Road cre
Virginia thank
you why do we need a v Landfield to take
out of state garbage that is just asking
for
trouble that we don't
need what would these communities do for
us a solution must be found that does
away with
Landfield incineration where the trash
is generated is a much
better
uh option because the fire destroys
viruses and other
pathogen and the volume of trash is
greatly reduced electricity and hot
water is produced and the metal waste
can be recycled we were fooled around
100 years ago about rich people who
offered a little money to a poor people
and they took it and sold their C rights
don't let some rich people
continue to use
us out of the excuse me don't let the
rich people convince us to take out
State out of state trash only to make
themselves
richer the land will be
sold the Landfield will be sold before
any problem show up
and then who knows who will be operating
the Landfield it is the existed Legacy
we want to leave to our future
generations to deal with thank
you Derek
H Mr
here I think he left let me left hold on
let me double check that yes
okay next is Jared
ring Jared ring Castlewood Virginia um
evening y'all uh congratulations to the
new board members um I was already
planning on talking about transparency
this evening before you went into close
session first thing get into the year um
it's already been overwhelmingly
demonstrated that the public is against
the
landfill and even if it hadn't been that
a large scale landfill hurts residents
AGR tourism potential residents is
simply Common
Sense what information is available to
the public about this landfill over the
course of the previous months has had to
be rung out through Freedom of
Information requests due to lack of
transparency from this
board every time this board has met on
the landfill thus far that the Public's
aware of it has gone into Clos session
away from the public eye and I believe
that likely includes this evening as
well I believe that the closed sessions
are detrimental to
transparency I believe that they are
detrial to public faith in this board as
several previous speakers have denoted
this evening there may well be good
reason for these closed sessions but
from the outside looking in to the
average citizen they look down right
clandestine in the best of
lives it looks like the board has the
ability to Simply hide anything that it
knows the public won't like from public
view by making that topic fit
guidelines that are very broad as was
mentioned earlier this
evening if that's an unfair assessment
uh please feel free to correct me uh
with any information I don't have to Foy
to
again um sunot is the best
disinfectant and where taxpayer money is
being spent the taxpayer should be able
to
see get back on
speed uh furthermore I believe and I'm
spoken before about not wanting to be
one of the young people who ran from
this County I wanted to stay and try to
help correct issues here I wanted to be
part of the economy getting better I
wanted to see this place
flourish and now there's going to be a
landfill 2 miles from my home and I
can't imagine anybody that wants to stay
beside that and wait for their family to
get sick and on that note I believe that
any member of this board that has
enabled this landfill in any stage to
have betrayed this County its people and
its future thank
[Applause]
you okay
Jennifer Jennifer chumble 285 iby Ridge
Road um first off I do have a fouryear
request for y'all tonight which I got
one for each of you if you would like it
welcome new board
members um just a couple notes that I
have the location for this landfill is
not geographically stable due to pass
Mining and there will be issues we all
know this the local
ecosystem is vital to our area and it
isn't found anywhere else and we got to
remember that you know our area it's not
found anywhere else the town of
Cleveland will be left with all the
devastation from trucks and trains
coming through and no benefits zero
benefits Cleveland was left off the
table on this so don't help the town at
all it only hurts the town hazardous
household or Industrial Waste deposited
into land Fields can spread disease to
our families our wildlife and our farms
and be devastating to all of Russell
County trash from outside of Russell
County is not it's simply not worth this
cost and not worth putting letting a
company come in for profit and put in a
landfill that can go bankrupt or carry
the lowest
Insurance
minimums um uh and us become the large
one of the largest landfills in the
United
States the cost to our communities is
too great most for-profit landfills
cause devast devastating effects to the
surrounding area and people and what is
Russell County Worth to us what is our
sellout point is it 5 million a year 10
million a year 15 million a year what is
that amount whatever it is the cost to
close this Landfield and monitor it will
be so much greater Bristol Landfield was
located on 138 Acres from what I
together from Deeds this will be 1250
Acres this
landfill all right the largest landfill
in America right now is located in
California and it steps 10,3 10,300 tons
per day until
2022 we're planning on steping up to
6,000 tons per day the largest private
landfill in Virginia right now is
located on 1300 Acres this is 1200
Acres uh and it's owned by Waste
Management they were f $14,200 after a
sleepy driver let 8,000 gallons of
bleach a spill after the fact all of
this is after the fact that's how it
always works it always works after the
fact another private landfill in Ohio
located on 238 Acres was struck by
lightning caused a large Landslide the
uncovered trash uh private landfill in
Michigan located on 755 Acres operated
by Waste Management has a class action
lawsuit due to odors and methane gas a
private owned Landfield in Alabama just
recently had to pay
$138,000 due to hazardous waste found in
two open pits
one trip one trip and they had eight
instances of leech AE management
violations three instances of waste not
being properly compacted three instances
of way slopes that were too Steep and
these violations were all found on one
trip just one is the money the county
stands to make worth the livelihood of
our communities are those poost
agreement fees worth it our families our
Farmers our animals are natural
resources should and I see my time's up
so should this proceed there will be
viol it will just be how bad and what's
the cost to recover thank
[Applause]
you request here in a second David
B thank
you hey how you doing
guys title of my speech is the power of
cooperation building stronger
communities together that's exactly how
I'm going to kick off the New Year in
2024 good evening ladies and gentlemen
our community and the board I want to
talk about a force that's often
overlooked yet holds immense power and
the potential for everyone involved and
that's cooperation it's the glue that
binds communities people and businesses
together fostering growth and conveying
Mutual benefit for everyone I have an
example for you today concerning
e-commerce and Community
cooperation as a Dasher for door Dash
I've witnessed firsthand how cooperation
between delivery services and local
stores and restaurants can create a
win-win scenario for those who
participate some stores initially resist
uh embracing delivery services citing
revenue or cost concerns however a
closer look reveals a different
story take for instance restaurants and
Merchants who are hesitant about
accepting door Dash orders while some
publicly outcry voicing struggles with
sales door presents for them an
opportunity for growth an Avenue to tap
into a broader Market by leveraging a
delivery platform retail businesses and
not just restaurants all retail
businesses gain increased Market
exposure while also catering to a
growing segment of customers seeking the
convenience of Vining from the comfort
and safety of their own home all without
the distraction of having to go get it
themselves for individuals like those
who work from home stay-at-home parents
those who may be drinking and need to
stay off the road certain customers with
mobility and accessibility limitations
door Dash has become an indispensable
Lifeline with an easy to use mobile web
interface ex it's more than just
delivery this is about accessibility
inclusion and convenience all wrapped
together in a single delivery as a
service product that engages customers
with your business at the time they need
it most right now
according to their website door Dash
offers a free trial period for merchants
of up to 30 days with no commissions and
their most expensive Premier partnership
offers the most for struggling
businesses because it also includes a
growth
guarantee which is to say if your
business doesn't accept the minimum
number of orders you aren't charged at
all for commissions and undeniable
win-win if growth is your goal door Dash
offers an affordable TurnKey solution
you can use to
succeed if this applies you as a
business owner especially if your
business is struggling to find new
customers or Revenue I would emplore you
to reach out to Door Dash merchant
services before you say you would rather
support local businesses instead of
handing all your hard-earned money to a
corporation realize a few things uh
while door Dash is publicly traded on
NASDAQ as local contractors we aim to
support local businesses while providing
a safe reliable Courier Service at a
fraction of the cost of traditional
delivery a call on our local retail and
restaurant business Community to help
support us and what we are doing by
taking part of the evolving landscape of
local e-commerce we can build together
what none of us can do alone excuse me
unfortunately I'm sorry
yes I I'm all out of time for this month
I want to say as I stand here in
opposition of the Landfield we have a
lot of unanswered questions concerns and
grievances regarding the Moss 3 proposal
and we would appreciate anticipate and
respect Community cooperation from the
board moving forward thank you to be
continued happy New Year and God bless
Russell County
[Applause]
Virginia that takes care of everybody on
the list I've never got to sign it
wouldn't out sir you want to speak yes
come on up thank you
thank don't just yell out just you're
welcome to come to speak all right thank
you I didn't want three minutes okay I
didn't want to say to
much man I am heartfelt when I say this
to you forgive me Tony Smith Tony Smith
I was getting ready to tell that I was
asking forgiveness from L
sir but uh I I I have been here and my
purpose was to uh get y'all to feel some
shame on this that was my purpose for
being here I'm a god-bearing
man I don't know that that comes from
first and then I'm a conservative I'm
probably more conservative than every
one of you
say I really am I
conservative but I don't understand now
when it comes to women I like women
always just
way but I can't get through to everybody
they was a
Landfield they was a Landfield there
from
6566 to
75 and I was a little boy my uncles they
dranking so we we would be down there
I'd be with them you know just kids but
people come in not H unlock the gate and
they take these big old drums and bury
them out there in the trash St and you
can see the oozing coming out into the
road you
know I don't understand why I can't get
that through anybody's mind it's already
a dump there ain't nobody looking after
it it's ooz and through people drinking
the water Castle Wood's dranking it St
Paul's dranking it back Valley's
dranking it everybody on the lower end
are drinking it and it's really sad to
me I don't understand and part let me
say this I and this don't make me
special I own land in Seven Counties and
three
states and Russell County is the hardest
to get a septic system approved in any
state that I no we I mean you can't you
cannot get it done you know I spent
thousands of dollars with the c that
don't make me special but like I said
I'm a Christian first the conservative
second and uh I'm getting old I ain't
going to live for long you know y'all
might think going to live be 100 I I
doubt very few of us do you know what
I'm saying but it's a little kids it's a
little kids I I don't like coming over
here and uh I got I'm I got to feel
guilty about trying to make you feel
ashamed of putting a chist dump in there
but you probably won't never see me
again in this platform you
know I just don't see no sense in it you
can't get a out of out of no woman but
Search Your Heart search your heart
that's what I'm asking you to do I mean
these people these are very intelligent
people here and they spoke well they
spoke better than I could ever
speak but I don't think you want your
kids drinking the water I don't think
your kid you want your kids taking a
bath in
so when you go to bed tonight and you
say your prayers I assume you do and I
part felt about to I really want
apologize but just ask God and pray
about it you realize there's one there
and he's another com so I mean when I
guess all I can say is when people sit
down and deep my
beef just think I just got a Landfield
ready to do give this to the young give
it to the young they got life insurance
on your children right back all I'm on
may God bless
you anybody
else I should have run again
name
be you stand on
Bridge you can't see no fish in that
River we' already got enough
pollution going in our
RS my brother lived on Sandy Ridge they
come in there with these
gas when they crack the last way his
water become as black that woman's paint
up
there and had they put water to them
I mean you know
look look at what our be growing
up
Grand you know hey I know I'm up in my
50s I ain't going live
forever I know my
grand
destroy better to
do and put something in going go to
destroy our
families that's all I got
say anybody
else my name is JJ Eaton congratulations
to the new board it's nice to see new
faces um I couple issues I just got
elected to the Russell County School
Board and I wanted to come here as a
board member to reach out to you all as
an open dialogue um our teachers pay and
our staff's pay has been left behind uh
well behind for at least 10 years um and
I know there's things that we need to
take care of on the budgetary items of
the school board but also we need to
have a a working relationship with the
county um I would like to see us have a
committee between ourselves to where we
could talk and try to get the budget
straightened out to where our teachers
and staff could see more money in their
pockets
um we've lost five more teachers after
Christmas they notified us before
Christmas break and they're gone now
this is uh this is a crisis besides the
landfill issues that's a crisis too but
this is Crisis as well we uh we're
losing our good teachers and we're
losing students because and I'm not
saying this to be mean but when we hire
back and we're the lowest in the state
of Virginia who we going to get unless
they just live here and they want to
work here who are we going to hire
because we can't get teachers right now
we don't we we can't even get a list of
five of them to replace the five we just
lost we're looking for long-term
substitutes and it it's it's really a
shame uh but I'm not placing blame on
you all or nobody but I'm saying it's
it's time we forget the past and look
for the future and work together and and
I know the county doesn't have a tax
base uh big enough to where they could
really chip in and help but we're going
to have have to have help from you all
have to and I know I've talked to you
all and I know you're willing to do that
um the school sad to say is the largest
employer in the county and uh and
keeping those employees here you're not
only keeping employee you're you're
keeping tax base here in the county they
live here some of those teachers that's
leaving is not only leaving a driving to
the next County they're actually picking
up and gone so we're losing a tax base
as far as that goes but I'm looking
forward to working with you all um on
the second note if I've got any time
left uh do is that out yeah okay well
I'll just quit right there then but I
look forward to looking working with you
guys uh to get this resolved so thank
you to get started oh I didn't know
started see Zero over
there I was going to be quiet today but
nobody ever brought up anything I wanted
to
hear straight to you
all but the day before the election we
had a Landfield meeting right over here
in the conference
room and at that time everybody was
against the landfill you know oh come
give me your vote I'm get the landfill
we'll fight it every way we
can we have to be transparent we have to
let the public know what's going
on and you're you're in and we need to
know so it's time you think and I'm
against Landfield thank
you anybody
[Music]
else anybody yes you got Amanda C pardon
me Amanda cook okay Amanda I just want
to let youall know um I'm a originally
from banon County I moved after I
graduated high school I to Russell
County
because it did as far as the atmosphere
the people reminded me a lot of where I
grew up at um I would hate to have to
move somewhere else because
of my health um my family's
health um I've been here 17 years and I
feel more at home in Russell County than
I did in bu County County where I live
in
and uh I myself am a county
worker um and I P you know I try to
appreciate everything that you do for
us um but we do need some help and I am
against we have anybody else
com
Josh Burgis 1857 Arch Pro Cleveland and
welcome new board
members um I'm a citizen of the
county a proud citizen I'm glad to live
here I am and why am I glad to live here
think we got low crime you leave your
car in the parking lot you going storage
running we have our environment is clean
compared the most it really is and I
live here because we don't have a mega
Landfield and it will not just affect
Russell County this thing will take
Southwest Virginia with it people call a
Landfield landfills are not constructed
as your local dump anymore they're
constructed as Mega landfills and they
will serve a majority of the East
Coast and um you talk about your schools
and you talk about your
population and you want generations to
stay here so how long have I lived here
how long has my family lived here y'all
don't know that as far as I can count
there's seven generations of me that has
served Russell County and still here and
I would love to stay here I
would but I'm not going to live in a
dump I won't
we will be chasing our health for the
rest of our days and the increased
traffic in the
area will be unimaginable it will be
hundreds of trucks a day can you imagine
Meeting those trucks on Cleveland
Mountain going down gravel
Le it's not going to be
good
so that's all I've got to say thank you
very
much
[Applause]
more call anybody else wants to
comment last
call
Close book sorry you better get them on
the move there you
go good afternoon my name is Chris
McDonald I live on iy Ridge and if
you're familiar with the county that
land going to be right in my back
door I'm a coal miner a
farmer the farm has been in my family
for 150
years my great-grandfather my son lives
there on the
property and I'm very buried and I'm
just now starting to hear about all this
and I I I don't know what's going to
happen I don't know what the plan is but
I'm very concerned about it I have a
whale get on water out of the
ground we have a lot of cave systems
right
there
uh not only that but I also worked at
them all
three I know the
property uh you know I don't know what
their plan is with the
Landfield it it's compacted Refuge I
imagine they're going to and and the
middle for pond and the 30 acre Pond I
don't what plan is but I
just you're here to represent the people
and I just can't see this being good for
the people R County really can't and
especially me because it's right in my
back
door and some of the other people that
spoke I know it's going be right in
their back door and that's why it's such
an emotional thing to us now granted if
it was in bail fast or
maruson you know it it might not work is
bad I know that's selfish but it it's
scared me I mean it's like from here to
Food
City
and and we have a vast I mean there the
whole thing where I live is nothing but
a cave system and it's right the geology
of the land changes right there
Sandstone the
Limestone and it scared me what what
could happen and we want to take take
that
chance does the people Russ County want
to take a chance
like it's something to think about
before before we go too far I mean some
things you can't take back on saying
Once you pull that trigger you can't
take it
back and ask something for everybody to
think about think about
hard welcome all you new board
members and I hope I hope you think
about what everybody
said
Thank okay one last time anybody else
don't look out the door
jennif looks
clear okay somebody coming okay I'm
going close public comment then I do
want to make one statement I I
understand you think we've been
secretive that we all you know this
landfills are nothing more than another
business coming into the county they
they become really big business and uh
whether you believe it or not that whole
area over there is permitted as a refuge
field right now slate field is what it
is what this group of people have been
doing is taking some of that Refuge out
these old coal finds that were screened
out years and years and years ago
they've been able to take those out and
blend them with some other stuff on site
there and they were taking it over to
Virginia City and burning a lot of it so
they're cleaning out a lot of that area
ponds up there are all well they're
practically grained out anyway those
ponds up on top uh we are really close I
would like to say by the end of the
month 1st of February we'll be able to
have an information meeting and all this
stuff you can see it for yourself you
can see what the whole area looks like
granted it's 12200 and some odd Acres
Jennifer but not all of it was could
possibly be be a landf there's no way
but at any rate you'll you'll be able to
look at this they'll have their
Consultants here you can ask questions
you can see what it looked like
beforehand you can see what it looks
like now they've created a couple
hundred acres of level property over
there that will be just a great probably
one of the biggest uh industrial sites
in the whole County well in the whole
south of Southwest Virginia really and
but you'll be able to ask questions get
answers and you'll get them from the
from the uh from the
experts uh in fact one of the guys is
working with him is fil named Ernie H
who Bristol called him in and his
company in for to help them with
remedial action so he can tell you what
happened over at Bristol and you know
what the implications were what happened
where forn why but uh really close so
bear with us you know another 30 days or
so and I hope what we'll they'll do is
rent a government center up here
advertise really well and then let
everybody come and let's throw the stuff
out in air open air and you you can get
some answers to your questions as far as
being more transparent on our our local
stuff I I feel your pain I think we're
going to have to modify these bylaws a
little to to allow us to you know
Converse back and forth with everybody
and you to the point that you know I'm
I'm almost ready just to say you know
maybe every third meeting we'll just
have a short session and we'll just open
it up to question and answers so where
we can talk back and forth I firmly
believe that you guys got some good
ideas out there but I know that you
don't know all the restrictions that
we're put under you know I mean it
sounds easy to do a thing but there's
there's a as Mr Kilgore will tell you
there's a Litany of regulations we have
to work through or reasons that we we
can or can't do this but you need to
know that we need to know your ideas you
need to know that so I'm I'm hopeful
we'll be able to talk a little more in
the coming meetings so that's all I've
got to say about that any other board
member want to say
anything apparently I've already said
too much I just want to say I really
look forward to the informational
meeting um I think that you know as many
of you all whether you are for it
against it whatever you need to come and
you need to ask the hard questions um I
spoke with the gentleman from Russell
County Reclamation and I told him I said
you know this is going to be in my
district and a lot of my people are not
happy and I told them I said you know we
really need questions answered um I
spoke with Amy Branson earlier today and
she uh informed me that there are 324
signatures online for the petition and
then there's more correct oh yeah a
bunch of okay so I mean you know every
person on there deserves to be heard and
their questions answered and you know
just given that time so I hope that when
they do have that meeting you all will
come out and you will make yourself
heard so is this the required public
meeting is that what we're calling this
because I know anytime we make a I don't
know if it'll be a public hearing there
will ultim had to be a public hearing
this this is probably more of an
informational meeting this is something
that when I talked to them I really
pushed forward um because I feel like
that it is
important um you know there's one thing
to have the public hearing after certain
things are already in place but I want
information out there before anything is
in place I want everyone to know what is
going on I want you to be able to ask
questions I want us to be able to ask
questions you know this is if if I mean
this is just a proposal so we need to
figure out what they're actually
proposing all the rumors and you know
just like with the foia things sometimes
things don't fit together you don't get
the whole picture if you don't know the
questions to ask so um you know we need
to go there we need to ask them direct
questions and then those questions feed
off and you ask more questions so so we
have the you know we hired the person to
look into the have all that information
prior to this meeting that we're going
to have so we can look through the
professional assessment that the county
paid for so that we know what questions
to ask we we really didn't pay for it
what they came I guess it's been what
over a year ago I guess they were
finishing up part of the Reclamation
they were looking for post mining land
use we didn't know they were going to
propose a landfill until August 7th at
the board meeting they came in and
addressed Us in executive session said
we are going to formally propose a
landfill we thought that they might be
looking at one but until then we didn't
we hired a consultant to look at their
data and we can probably I'd say we can
Pro they'll make that I'd say they will
make that information available to
anyway they did what you call a fatal
fla out see if there's anything that
just absolutely killed it right on the
spot before they could do anything else
they didn't find it they didn't find
anything the guy that we hired at one
time was I guess he was executive
executive
director chair
director and you know so he he what he
did is he monitor monitored their stuff
on our behalf so that we you know knew
that it wasn't any frauding dat you know
or anything like that he's pretty tough
now on August 7th when we found out that
they were going to proposed landfill we
hired a counsel legal counsel to protect
us you know from any legal issues this
guy with Gentry lock an older fell who's
have a lot of experience land and such
so that's kind of where we're at right
now uh I would imagine you can get
anything they'd be glad to give you
anything you want they be glad to take
you up on the Landfield site that I mean
if you haven't been up there you ought
to go up there and look at it see what
it looks like right now but they'll have
pictures of what it was before they
started the reclaim project they'll have
pictures of what it looks like right now
and they can show you where the landfill
is going to go it's not right down on
the railroad track it's way back up in
there somewhere and they can talk about
some of the other things that they want
to do on that particular site it's not
just a Landfield they've got other
things that they would like to propose
but I'm not going to steal any of their
Thunder you need you need to make sure
that you attend these this informational
meeting get your questions all these
questions you've asked us ask ask these
people and and they they'll have the
people they can answer on their own
behalf be assured we all live here I'm
not going to do anything some jeopardize
my family my grandchildren or anything
like nor will any of these people up
here but you have to understand that you
know I've heard a lot of the a lot of
the references landfills have been to
landfills I had one lady referenced
Landfield in Lebanon that was 40 years
ago and cuz I lived across the Hill from
it and we used to go up there it was
kind of like an open dump up Lee Street
I believe it's where it was up there
it's all reclaimed covered up now but uh
you know it's and and the one Mr Smith
references I think that was over at
maybe over carbo or not carbo but over
where the where the trash where the
trash dumpster
was that carb that's one of them and and
there were some ponds back through there
but uh
I think to my knowledge is all been
reclaimed and everything is is pretty
decent shape but be be aware we'll try
to get plenty of give you plenty of time
and you know make this you know get the
notice out you know a couple weeks ahead
of time but uh we're getting closer
we're getting closer so we can shed some
light on this and it's going to answer a
lot of your questions I know it's hard
for me to sit up here and inv tell and
not want to answer answer your questions
but it's it's not my place to do that
these the people that are doing this
thing Mar yes I have one question I'd
like to know is this a county deal or a
private de private landfill the county
we own the landfill see that's that's
one of the r excuse CA that it is a
private bill it is a private deal I
would not vote to have the county own a
landfill last thing I would V I mean the
amount of bond
alone these people are probably going to
have 10 1215 million in it before they
put the first ton ofp who's going to
make on the existing landfill that we
have right now we're probably spending
what the existing landfill monitoring
leate and all that we're spending
probably
323,000 a month at least that covers
our that's the one down at the down 7
it's been actually closed but we still
have to maintain you monitor forever
like a terminal illness I don't know
there is any ter termination on
ter the thing I I think that needs to
happen I think with this leadership and
I agree with tar is transparency now
I'll tell you we don't know every
everything about everything and we're
learning as well as the public is on and
that's the reason we had to hire these
people to kind of come in and and tell
us leg the legal side and and all this
what where we could go and what we could
do and could not do so I want to assure
the public and I will assure the public
that I don't know if anybody on this
board it's took
any MoneyWise to uh to get swayed in
either way I mean I've got three kids
two two grandbabies and you know we
we've got to take this ultimately
serious about where what it's going to
do and the impact it's going to be and I
think I told Steve today I think this
information session to bring in the
experts so you all can ask them and
we'll be there too to ask them questions
also you know to get the information
that you need uh to get clarity uh and I
I mean I would I think it's going to be
the right thing to do is to have this
information session I want to be one of
the first to thank you all for doing
everything that you can to do to stop
this is there anything you can we can
legally do to stop
it I think you have all the information
we make you can't make a decision
without having all the information
that's our job people eled us to take
collect the information look at it weed
out what's good and bad and then make it
the best decision you can make on behalf
of the county is the county going just
because you think it's bad doesn't
necessarily mean it is just because I
think it's good doesn't necessarily mean
what it is is this a done deal or not
can hear is this a done deal already or
is there anything we can do to stop it
no it's it's not a done deal you know
even if listen even if we get to the
point that we let it go on through they
still got to go through per all that is
permission to get it
permitted permitting process
is everything off list they theit and
then they do inspection and they them
based on the
what
don't
I'm they told us that EQ told us
that just be aware that it's coming as
soon you know say within the next 30
days or so we'll try to push that
forward they are going to they're
probably going to be willing to take
anybody anywhere to look at existing
landfills okay I'm I'm through talking I
can't said too much already okay so even
if we have this information session and
they answer our questions how does that
help anything ma'am I I'm not going to
answer any more questions that's a
question for the people at the land let
let them answer it's done it's coming if
I if I if I tell you something you know
I can't help but maybe my opinion is to
it I'm
a I'm a register professional engineer
and I worked in landfills I didn't
worked in Merc K land in blue and that
but that's been 25 years maybe 30 at
that time the cost of just one square
foot of the drainage under drain system
just the liner that Seals Everything off
was5 six square foot it's astronomical
but I can't imagine what it cost now Mr
Lester has a piece of liner in his all
this it's about you think it's not a
trash bag it's something about this
thick you know and it's all fused
together it's heat sealed together in
the it's kind of like this hdp pipe
water used they fuse they heat fuse it
together and the seams are stronger than
the material to sell so it's all say
let's move on but in 30 years
after through it let's move on
Mr thank you
CH I don't think we have any
constitutional
officers she
Li
thank you chairman first on the County
Administrator reports is of course the
vinary uh legislative
program this is also in the board
package this is what uh is before the
general assembly this year
in since yeah since T is going to be up
fire with this these are the uh what's
been proposed you know for legislation
of the new laws is give because the
board will be attended legislative
meeting which is in line item number two
on uh December the 31st 24 and the local
government day of February the 1st 2024
so the governing board will be up by
representing you they not only deal with
legislative issues and Regulatory issues
legislative issu issues but they're also
up there with the funding agencies to
you know go and see what kind of extra
funding that we can get appropriated for
various programs and grants so and we
they've been pretty good at this as well
as you can see over the years if you
look we we get a lot of Grants so uh
next on the county minist reports is is
the governor's recommendation of the
budget bills which is FY 24 cab boost in
the biannual budget not to speak for the
governor as y'all have seen in the news
of course ues sitting here beside of me
is the car taxes one of the big things
that's up up for right now and it's a
very political Hot Topic so we'll let
the governor deal with that number four
on the county Ministry reports is is the
FYI to the um uh the board members for
the state and local economic interest
and financial disclosure statements and
the for your training for the board
members the new board members and the
old board members next um what is the
deadline on that on the the financial
disclosure February February February 1
February yes yes just get it Mr yes
there
is
yes next on the county administ reports
is um the 11 enir fire department this
is the Russell County uh Courthouse fire
chief's report this is recommendations
that's in regards to the new
construction in the new Russell County
courthouse uh of course the Le and fire
department you know is fully capable of
doing what we call Life Safety analysis
to make sure that everything works and
everybody egress and Ingress that can
make sure that we have a fire safety
life safety plan in place in case
something happens either during
operations or during closing so um they
as far as our live safety plan
everything was approved by the not just
the fire department but our building
inspectors and also the fire marshal so
uh we do have a few pieces of equipment
that we want to be buying from external
not in the building because the building
has all the equipment that it needs uh
and what we're looking for is basically
U hookups on the outside for all the
fire departments can hit all three sides
simultaneously so we're going to be
looking at equipment before that um next
is the normal V do monthly Road system
report so we're going to be dependent
upon that since now that we have no
highway
safety so so if you have this not to be
vitious but anything that y'all have I'm
from B do so 10 years so uh we have a
good working relationship with them and
and T and I were sitting here discussing
and a majority of the time they will
call you they have a road problem a lot
of times they will call the board of Zo
BS individually in your area but often
times if you don't if you if you want us
to handle it we'll be glad to if uh as
time goes on the ones that's been here a
while they they've also they've got beat
up pretty well on speed dial don't you
st so we you'll get acclimated for all
that so one of the the biggest things
that you'll see and get CS from is uh
roads animal control and Disposal so
that's that's the three so that's that's
what we
get um down to the Motions that we need
the first one up I hate to say but we
have to do it by code is the Russell
County six-year general
reassessment for uh real estate so this
is our sixth year I hate to say that boy
I went by fast then so this is required
by Cod of Virginia I need a motion and
approval for the advertisement for
request for proposals for General
reassessment services for Russell
County have a motion Mr H or Mr
Kaiser Mrs Wallace discussion please
good discussion uh I've got a question
on on this I mean while I've been on
this board we've
had uh I know one
horrifying reassessment
that people came in and price of their
homes and stuff was evaluated you know
and they had to meet with certain ones
to get that
fixed are we going to hire can we hire
somebody internally to do this or does
it have to be an outside Source cuz most
of the people outside the they don't
know the the people that they're dealing
with we
can we we have an assessor's office but
you have you can hire some an assessor
that's in the county yes you you can
handle that but you do have to hire
someone to assess it
like so yeah a lot of larger
municipalities and cities like
Frederickburg Frederick Alexandria they
have a qualified system that's in in
place where you have an annual
reassessment internally and it's on a
continuous basis we are on a six-year
rotation so there's so much time that's
between assessments that it takes a
professional certified assessor to be
able to do what will require by the
department of tax cuz they come through
and they what we turn in from the
contractor and goes through the
commissioner revenues office is verified
by the department of tax
to make sure that we're in align with
the assessments of all the fun counties
they come in and look they look at all
the assessments of the adjourning
counties but also look at comps within
your own County no I think I'm saying
people are really struggling right now I
hate to see an increase on people's
assessments if you know I I know we
don't have a lot of control over that I
understand but just for
the the purpose of trying to keep it low
and trying to keep it uh settled in here
for our citizens I worry about it you
know I worry about anything like that
that the assessments would go up and
that I I agree with you D but thing of
it is it is what it is you know there's
not a lot we really do about it the
people that have their own departments
are usually heavily populated areas they
have a lot of change every year the
reason we can get that just flying
periodically because we're change I like
to see that change but most rural areas
are like that you just can't afford
apply this stuff every year I understand
but uh before we scare everybody here
this reassessment can happen and your
home price value could double for the
past six years so we can adjust the tax
rate down so that your taxes won't go up
yeah so everybody watching that tonight
whenever you watch it everybody sitting
here don't get worried your taxes going
to go through the roof we're here to
adjust the rate down so you'll be okay
during this Rec I I'll piggy back on
that there is a state statute law that
even if your taxes went up it can go
only up
1% 1% on the overall overall tax from
what total tax was than you it's not
going to be one of those things like the
personal property tax you saw a couple
years ago it's not going to be like that
we are not going to have that happen in
Russell County again as long as I sit on
this board anyway but it'll be my goal
like Andrew said is to keep things level
funded level level uh
taxation that way folks aren't hit at a
time when the economy is in the tank and
we're struggling we need to get business
in here we need get jobs we need to get
the economy rolling we can't afford to
go and lay more burden on the taxpayer I
agree and one of the things you got to
remember this is just a year of
assessment so um of course there's the
equalization board that's in there too
and and the board appoints those so
those are things that triggers and
mechanisms since in place and it's hard
to tell what they Comm do so I need a
motion and approval for the six-year
junal reassessment or request for
proposal contract I'll make a motion
have a motion to allow Mr ler to
advertise
second thank you that's right sorry Nate
sorry we're in
discussion that's my motion on it bab
that's my motion you
leave
weat any more
discussion if not let's go ahead and
vote on all in favor of allowing Mr ler
to do this signify saying I I I'll
oppose now the second part of the count
administrator request is of course the
Eagle View the countywide pictometry
contract for the fly Services that's in
conjunction with the general assessment
and why we do that is they we don't have
to do the flyovers every year what based
off of
uh the one flyover that we do this year
we do it in conjunction with flyover so
we're not doing house visits and house
visits that's when it assessment gets
very expensive we had to visit
11,326 th000 and assess it they wouldn't
it the contractor would be astronomical
so we're using the technology of today
just like you will find on Zillo and the
rest we're using that technology in
combination now one thing that we do get
a keep with this is once we do it is it
will upgrade our uh
911 system and photos but it also
upgrades our GIS and our property for
appraisals for Real Estate so you know
um that's up to y'all to whether y'all
want to open it to it it was in the
package on on disasters and why all
were're going to upgrade on this system
so it does a multiple of things not just
a reassessment so it could be very
beneficial but I need a motion for
approval for the Eagle View uh
countywide pictometry contract for fly
Services Mr chair I'll offer that motion
tonight please motion M Wallace
second second motion is Andrew Hensley
is there any further discussion yes
please okay um also Mr L you've touched
on this this uh the Eagle View will we
be able to use this system or the
Gathering of information that we'll be
able to plug that into our
EMS uh our emergency management system
and our fire departments and our rescues
that we've been talking about for some
years about Loc ation of working fire
hydrants and this sort of thing I'm just
wondering is is that getting way down
the weeds as you know as you seen in the
scope of services it had a disaster plan
planning and and we can combine with our
take our shape files that come out of
the pictometry and be able to move it
not just to the gis but also into our
our
911 also as you seen there it doesn't
have we can also share it one with other
departments which you know not just aom
one but we can also work with Katie you
here uh Katie and I are also working on
trying to get the Deeds pulled in right
with our systems and this will be part
of that that combination of services
that we can do and have it online so
between the 911 and Emergency Services
the upgrade of the gis and of the Deeds
this should all come about and be one
system as you seen also on there it has
no as far as the countywide it doesn't
have a limit it doesn't have a set
amount of users in it which we had to
pay for licensing on it we we work I
would negotiated that out because that
also gives board members access to it
because a lot of times when you're
running that road that you get that
colone you got to know where it's at so
and you it can query it it's it has a
lot of lot of advantages and it also has
one component in this year that never
had if you want to attend which I will
have on the department is
training so to continue this discussion
just one more minute please um bear with
me so we will be able to get this system
in place that will be user friendly and
those that are in using this for their
jobs um the real estate agencies the
attorneys everybody else that works in
this this will upgrade this system
because it's in really bad shape right
now it's in bad shape and and it's not
due to again we we have an opportunity
while we're upgrad and isn't not that we
don't do the work our our records are
Antiquated it's almost like the bylaws
this is the one time because over the
years this board was so conservative we
didn't do multiple Flyers we did the one
that we had to do and we cut the
contract that was it we did not want to
spend the money to do it but now while
we have to do this by code then let's
get the bug for the bank bang for the
bug but also technology has changed over
six years what we were getting six years
ago seems very an equated to what the
technology that we can pull out right
now thank you Mr Lester I'm through with
discussion at this time anybody else has
one thing is I'm reading this right
there's three flyovers or three
adjustments over the course of the six
years that right that is correct we put
that in there that we have to do the one
in 24 along with the reassessment that
that gives us an evaluation so what we
were doing between the assessments we
went in
2018 then we went to 20 you know 2019
then we went to 23 we were evaluating
six years apart so what the contract
that initiated was in 24 skip a year go
to 20 uh six SK a year and hit the other
one that way we're not hitting such a
span the reason I do that if we were
just doing a reassessment I would go
from the first year to the sixth year
again but if you're going to keep your
GIS and your EMS and the rest of your
records I have to have by code we have
to have a more
updated uh shape files on record to be
able to to communicate and have
um uh monitoring agreements and mutual
Aid agreements with other counties in
the state
so
now thank you Mr chair okay any further
discussion if not all in favor of this
motion signify saying I I I'll oppose
Lon there
on thank you
chairman next on the county
reports is okay here's where we get to
into the
grants um this is the ID Commonwealth
development opportunity performance
Grant an agreement for the T corporation
which is what we call the bush build at
the last board meeting you had the uh
tobacco Grant this is the Commonwealth
opportunity fund for
$700,000 I need a motion for the
approval of the Ida uh opportunity fund
grant for $700,000 so move Mr Mr chair
second motion and a second is there any
discussion not all in favor of this
motion sign say I I
allos next on the count County
Administrator request is the Community
Development block grant 21
21-14 the Dank Regional sewer line
extension project for supplemental
funding also another million do grant
for a total of $3.5 billion in Grant
would be happy to offer that motion
thank you very much a motion to have a
second second motion and second
discussion if not all in favor of this
motion signify say I I those
like thank you chairman next is the
Department of
uh this is the Criminal
Justice Services this is a vstop grant
for continuation in new app for
$133,000 33 yeah
$133,300 this is for equipment and
awards now in this grant is
$33,000 that is County
funded of 133 the local match is
$33,135 for a total 133 33 333 for a
total that has to be awarded by the uh
the
county motion approval I'll make that
motion second motion second
discussion this is is this one that we
generally do most years this is the vop
this is very
important all in favor of this motion
signify saying I iose like
say just to elaborate the vop this this
is this is to increase apprehension
prosecution and adjudication of persons
committing violent crimes against women
that's what the be stop means I
apologize for the acronym
so next the on the County Administrator
uh request is a approval for the Russ
County Disposal truck purchase
replacement for $21
15,22 so
moved need a second for
discussion I'll make second okay second
and Mr BL you need to explain about this
rotating these vehicles out how you make
money on
them do have to tell that
yeah okay under our total program we we
have disposable trucks that we purchase
on state contract we use to purchaseing
power and piggy Bank up on our state and
we also do the federal contracts too but
we usually block the state just for
example what we do in our disposal
trucks we buy them up front on a state
contract at a very reduced discount and
we run them up to a certain percentile
and and mileage for a couple years it's
equivalent to about two years and then
we turn them back in and trade them you
go well why do you do that why don't you
run it because what we do with
we buy at a huge discount we also have a
guaranteed minimum price contract to buy
those back War done so what we end up
doing is we buy a truck like we have
paid for the last one that we and it's
in their analysis too we paid like 180
we sold it to 205 and we ran it for 2
years we get such hard large discounts
cuz we can run them on state contracts
for example on this contract on this one
truck that was $15,246.86
[Music]
depreciation other than the fuel
cost we we really are running our trucks
for nothing and and we keep a very firm
on that we have been since the beginning
a lot of the people did understand that
you did an analysis of the average cost
and it's in each one of the board
packets yeah but it's with with the
trade ends it's it's a
negative
yes so I need a again we run them we'll
be glad to show anybody this and we also
do the same thing with our our uh shch
vehicles and stuff we run them to the
least run them to the Max and because
anybody that knows I'm telling you right
now if you run them by the time you get
through 5 years of service if you sell
it deal you will not get any pay back
but we've got a program in place we earn
more than keep we keep good trucks and
we keep our employees safe so I need
approval for 515 212 on the uh
disposable truck purchase 2 25 215
5 okay we're not giv 55 thank you
$215,200
okay any further
discussion if not all in favor of this
motion to signify by saying I I I'll
oppose
likeon okay next on the county
administrative request is the law
enforcement uh L LOL Grant this is for
$2,512 this is a Federal grant fully
funded for um for law enforcement
equipment and training so move
have a motion have a
second second a motion second
discussion is there anything specific
that this has to be allocated to or is
it up to equipment and training
sir any any further discussion not all
in favor of this motion signify the say
I
I based on count administrator request
is the uh the
CSA a supplemental allocation request
form for
$6,193 this is our
mandatory services that we have through
department and of Department of Social
Services this is uh for the treatment
center of foster care for our
children um I have spoken with the CSA
director you know uh coordinator
and the 116,000 is is a is an estimate
where least all said out there she knows
what we're referring to and um this is
an estimate for approval for the end of
the year just to make sure that we've
got enough to cover it these are
mandatory services this will be
basically budget adjustment that is
correct for 11 16,1 19192 so if it comes
in less than that if it comes in less
than that then we
get if it does
yes have no
doubt do you want to hear the other side
of the
question I'll make I'll make that motion
for the CSA suppl
allocation have a motion have a second
second any discussion questions whatever
this this one sort of
go ahead go ahead um so the the budget
adjustment helped me out to understand
this was this an overe expenditure by
the
department based off of what we have
right now then the kids that we have in
the treatment programs this is an
estimate to take us to May 31st we have
to set this in by law so that way we can
keep reimbursement and cash flows coming
in that we don't this is an estimate
based off the current services so we're
estimating out to May 31st of 24 on this
now if it comes in less like Mr bre said
then we get keep it but if it comes in
more CSA will be coming back to us to
may but it will be the real cost it will
be mandatory cost it is required by law
because of the way their budget Falls
I'm sorry is correct see their budget is
from June 1st to May 31st it's not on
the fiscal year so they're I got you
they're moving on the end of the year
already you explain why this just over
abundance of children so many kids that
we have in care yeah in the red now we
get this money to pay the bills one
child is
[Music]
10,000 one of the things I want to say
and I told chairman breeding and I've
talked to County
Administrator uh it was a real big
passion of mine when I first got elected
and we started Mountain movers and
working on the Foster Care Program
housing whatever it takes
but we're in a pandemic I'm telling you
and if we don't get people locally in
Russell County to try to pick it up and
help take a
child uh you know I've talked to Tara
about it I mean we we lost the director
of
Foster and I I was chapped over bad
because I was working with Regina and a
foster family and we were visiting
different churches
as much as we could talking to them
about breaking the cycle and getting
these kids in a good environment and I
plan on cranking that back up again I
want to work with our church Coalition
our pastors and stuff to try to help
meet this need I mean we're what at
137 is it 137 kids between broke
programs the CSA
program count we probably had 72 72 at
one time when we we started the program
went from 101 down to 48 and we had a
lot I went to Woody Scott church and
there was five families stood up and
said you we'll take kids we didn't know
and if they don't know they don't know
how to help us to meet those needs and I
know we have some pastors here uh that
has been working on homes like Foster
Care Homes and and we have got to do
that we wouldn't have had to come up
with this money if we had have if we had
have thought forward and and and got
ahead of this thing and fix this issue
uh we would had these accommodations and
stuff and I I want to work with anybody
interested and any families out there
that would be interested in taking a
child I would ask that you pray about it
and see if that might be something you
want to
do
understand
understand some of them have to go into
therapeutic yeah but but I understood
one of the issues was we only had one
foster home
approved yes that's correct so there
there was a lapse in getting these
things approved I think more than that
approved
now we really need to work on that I
think
it's we got I mean the first meeting we
set in on this all elected here they
came out was
116,000 something like for this same
issue
so and that's when ja jumped on it
started going around all the churches I
mean it just dropped we're going have to
do I'm willing to work with the board or
whoever and I've talked to terar about
it I mean there's going to have to be
initiatives and we're going to have to
work with our partners in our community
to help us address this issue these kids
are troubled kids Sandy knows and you
all know I mean we've got not to mention
your Social Services employees are being
overworked and not paid overtime that's
right that's right and then we're having
to house them there at the social
services
building any further discussion if not I
going to ask for a vote all in favor of
this motion signify the saying
I those
like thank you
chairman the next item on the count
request it was the St pile fire
department y'all have already moved on
that resolution so um the last one being
the hakre was Lo the last agenda for the
November I mean the December board so
the home acre and Castlewood cry is what
y'all want to do with uh the operations
on so right now they're still open so
for you us County Citizens so do are
they get a lot of
use well right now yeah they're slowing
down and right down the me it's amaz so
usually we go to the middle of January
we did last year so is about the third
week of January about the 20 21st 22nd
somewh around there yeah cuz if you
don't then
some you'll get a call from one of the
farmers and oh
yeah it's like the r up so you don't
need any action no uh we'll take it up
at the first and we'll just as it as it
goes down I'll just we'll just start the
uh we'll start the winterization of them
can we go ahead and publicize that cry
be shut down by the end potentially be
shut down by the end of the month yeah
okay I can do
that anybody that's got anything they
want to get canned up all right we can
do sir that concludes yes sir
okay okay now we come down to the last
it which board discussions and reminders
where everybody gets an opportunity to
say something so I'm start down on end
with most conservative man in Russell
K thank you Mr chairman appreciate
everybody coming out tonight and uh keep
send your prayers there's a lot going on
we us newly elected folks kind of jumped
into something then we got hit with all
kinds of stuff from different directions
that was maybe a little unexpected but
uh we didn't we didn't expect for it to
easy appreciate everybody coming out and
voicing your opinions and uh hopefully
we can get some of these bylaws changed
so we can have a little more interaction
with you all and uh maybe that'll make
things go a little smoother and add to
the transparency that we'd like to see
go forward on this board thank you for
coming up Miss
Wallace I'm not used to going this in
this direction right now but anyway it's
a pleasure to be here tonight and um I'm
I'm excited and looking forward to the
many different things coming and thank
you to the new board members thank you
to Mr chairman I'm glad you've uh you've
got your seat so we'll move forward with
that thank you
again I want to Echo what Andrew said
thank you all for coming out and you
know like he said we got hit with a lot
of things that were unexpected but we're
going to work hard for you guys we're
going to do our best um the transparency
issue like I've said through my whole
campaign like just said we want to make
sure that you all know what we're doing
why we're doing it and you know it would
be wonderful to be able to answer
questions I know me and Steve and David
have talked endlessly uh before I ever
even ran about how frustrating it is to
sit up here and not be able to answer
questions and I don't want to do that um
so I look forward to changing that but
thanks again for
coming yes I've got just a couple of
things I got a call today from uh Logan
ball on Hill I know the governor just
awarded us a grant uh for the PSA to
build water down to tiller trailer park
and I would like for us to have a
discussion with him I talked to Joe Huff
today that's on that board uh Logan ball
has no water and he lives on hudman Hill
if he runs his dishwasher he can't run
anything else because he just absolutely
doesn't have any water not talked to Joe
today about maybe seeing legally if we
could take that money and wherever we
cut across there to go toward tiller if
we could maybe get in the middle
somewhere there's water water down there
is all have to tap into it okay well
Joe Joe apparently didn't know that he
thought on the other side of the road I
was actually working okay well I would
like to see uh Logan be able to get
water uh there and some of those
residents that I mean the water tables
right now are really low we have a lot
of things to work on and I know this
board's going to be a dog on a bone when
it comes to going to Richmond and
talking to V and and trying to get the
appropriations of funding that we need
to get to try to get infrastructure into
our citizens so uh it's it's going to
it's a job let me tell you but we're
willing to to roll up our sleeves and
and work at it but I just want y'all to
say a prayer for us I mean that is so
critical that we have people praying for
us and uh that makes a difference and
and the decision making that we make uh
I just ask that you all pray for us and
and keep us in your prayers and I'm open
if you need to call me call me uh at any
time and you know if I don't know the
answer I'll try to find it and get it
back to you but uh I'm like ter and and
some of the rest I want more
transparency and for us to be able to
have communication dialogue thank
you no nothing tonight
thanks Mr
Cas I want to thank everybody for coming
out tonight and all the ones that got up
and spoke uh I wanted to let you know
that your uh your concerns are heard um
I think they're legitimate concerns I
think they need to be addressed I've
said from the very beginning on since I
started attending Port meetings years
ago that transparency is one of the
biggest Laing things we have in
government and I want to bring that to
government and that's one thing that not
just Miss D has requested from the
Landfield group but myself as well cuz I
don't have all the answers I've got a
lot of questions still and so I've asked
them just like Steve said and Terry said
to come out rent out the government
center to present their plan answer all
and any
questions um and they volunteer to take
uh tours over to the landfill site that
they're
proposing um and I think it's uh it's
really important that we all get these
questions answered for what what's going
on um there's most likely going to be a
lot of legal things that we have to go
through as far as a board to find out
what we can and cannot do and what our
restrictions are uh like I said I don't
have all the answers but um I want you
to know that we have already are we're
working toward getting more transparency
on the landfill issue and we will see
you know and you hopefully you'll be
able to get your answers your questions
answered by the that group when they
come in so um just want to let you know
that we're working for you already in
that respect okay and we're only on day
two of January so we're working working
hard for you okay so if you need
anything give us a shout and uh
appreciate y'all coming out
tonight I'll just take of what the other
board members said we appreciate
everybody coming out and I'll say it
again transparency we are going to
really work toward trying to be able to
communicate with you guys and it's
two-way street you understand we don't
always have all the the answers
sometimes the answers are not the ones
you want to hear but it's the ones that
we know but communication back and forth
we work together we can get a lot of
conf so uh that I'll I'll just leave I
want to uh to as far as the adjournment
we need to adjourn to
reconvene on January
31st 2024 at 4 p.m.
at I'll make it motion second and second
discussion not all in favor of that
motion sign
say