http://www.pagecountyblog.com is now going to be the new website for the local blog. This has been done because of the limited functionality that is offered from wordpress.com. The new site now offers a forum for open disscussion. You do not have to register to post. Since the blog is now on a hosted domain, donations will be accepted to help maintain the blog’s upkeep. Advertisement is also avaliable. Any ideas as to what other functionally that may be needed for the new blog site, email me @ lurayva@gmail.com and let me know.
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Those were the words being echoed tonight in a joint meeting session with the Page County Board of Supervisors and the Members of the EDA. Johnny Woodward did state that in a meeting with the State EDA director said that there are no shoppable land in Page County. The state that a locality have atleast a minimum of a 50 acre tract to market. After a few rounds of the “blame game”, both boards settled into a discussion that eventually brought the BoS worksession to a total 4 hour meeting. No word on the budgeting amount, if any, for the EDA had been decided.
Earlier John Comer was appointed to fill the vacancy of the planning commission. Shenandoah Rescue Squad asked for 2 to 3 months more of the paid help that had been helping the Squad get back on track. They have 11 applications to look at and need to get people back up to speed and some training. Johnny Woodward commended the Squad for making such progress.
Carol Gaunt was given the go ahead to use the GIS and her staff for the upcoming redistricting.
A public hearing has been set aside in January for two recommendations proposed by Sheriff John Thomas. First, adoption of an ordinance that requires moped/scooter riders to wear helment and google, face shield, or windshield. This only applies to the County of Page and not the town localities. Each town would have to adopt their own ordinance. Second, adoption of an ordinance that involves a residential development of 100 lots or more. I will have more on that later, unless others who were at the meeting also remembers and would like to clarify.
There will be a public hearing on the Zoning ordinance. The date has not been set yet. The BoS asked the Planning Commision to go back and review the current ordinance and distinquish between immediate family and non-family. The BoS would like to see a no waiting period for family.
Page County Board of Supervisors will call for a Work Session in the Board of Supervisors Room on December 7, 2010 – 7:00 p.m. On the agenda will be a request for ordinance requiring safety equipment for mopeds and designating private roads as highways for law enforcement purposes; rezoning for immediate family member property divisions; and a session with the EDA will be held.
Joanne Petefish, mother of Joe and Adam Petefish who were killed in a car wreck on the way to work on Aug. 28th, 2010, is asking for donations to help cover the funeral costs. On her daughter-n-law facebook, she asks:
I am trying to get donations for adam and josephs funeral costi still owe 5000 on it and i would like to clareify something i have not ask his wife to pay a penny on any of this,nor do i intend to,they are my kids and i will take care of it someway,If you would like to help my addresse is joann petefish 121 cattail lane luray, please repost this ~ this is from Joann herself * thank you for anything you can donate
Donations can be sent to:
Joanne Petefish
121 Cattail Lane
Luray, Va 22835
I have been working the past couple of days on relocating this blog site. My original plan was to go live in January 2011 but I was making fast headway, I decided to go live sooner. The new website’s address is http://www.pagecountyblog.com I have add a forum section so more discussions can be opened up with waiting for a post. This way, if someone likes to spead an event, discuss something that they do not agree with, all can be done via a forum. I will be posting on this site and the new site for the remainder of the year. I still have some more tweaking to do on the new site and will add more features as a need arises.
The meeting ended today with a closed session. Starting out were guests John Sissler and John Coffey, who works with the SVEC and John Coffey talked to the EDA on how they can help in the community. SVEC has and EDA arm to which they can help getting business started in a community by offering incentives to a newly formed business. They also can help with a plan, which would be custom tailored, to what a new business may need as far as electricity usage. John also spoke that a $46 million capital improvement plan will be spent over the next few years, most of it being spent in Page County. Also explained that there will be 7 years for vegatative maintaince for a complete ground to sky clearance of vegetation around the power lines.
Baughn had recieved notice on the bills that the EDA had sent to the BoS to be asked to be paid. The letter provided what will be paid:
- $1,425 to Bach Rowe
- $800 Stowe Engineering
- $8,500 for Mrs. Hudson’s legal fees
- $8,777 reimbursement of the EDA revolving loan fund
- $7,000 appraisal fee (It will be lower if Rebecca pays for her part as she agrees to)
Any future fees accured by the EDA will discussed at the the Dec. BoS work session.
Last week’s Page News & Courier story on the front page, above the fold titled “The Board Reluctant to Pay the EDA’s Bills” did not sit well with J.D. Cave and he let Kevin Seabrooke know what he thought about it. Kevin apologized for the mistake. Portions of the proposed bill submitted by the EDA did not please any members of the board. To keep from adding to any burden to the tax payers, fearing that the EDA may have to sell any land it owns to cover their expenses, a motion was passed 5-1, JD on the no vote. The terms of the motion is that the EDA provides a proof of performance invoices to the board and Mark Belton and Mark Belton would itemize the bill and he would decide what needs to be paid. The total bill amount presented was $26,502. This also includes the $7000 owed for an appraisal that was started by the EDA after Philip Rainwater’s personal appraisal been done on the Clover property earlier this year in an attempt by the EDA to defunkt the certified appraisal, in addition to lawyer fees and $8771 (that was used to cover cost of expenditures) for an EDA fund that needs to be reimbursed.
Budget amendment was passed for the school board and the sheriffs office.
Patrick Embry of Valley Automation was awarded $6099 to replace backup equipment for the county and sheriffs department.
Valley Regional Transport asked for $35,277 funding from the county to continue operations of bus routes in the county. They were unaware that the county had removed them from the budget when the cuts were made earlier this year and had been operating for sometime with no funding. Valley says they can continue until December 10th for now. Jeff Vaughn asked if they can continue to do so until the next years budget. Valley Regional Transport will let Mark Belton know. Jeff Vaughn asked if a census can be done to see who is really affected if the transit would be unable to operate in the county.
I would like to start off by saying make sure to thank a veteran today. Just realize that some things we have and or able to do would not be possible without them.
The hot topic debate this week seems to be the EDA. J.D. Cave pretty much voiced his displeasure on helping the EDA with their budget, citing they have land to sell. With that thought, how the EDA is recognized, visit here http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+15.2-4904 to understand more. There are some other groups in the county that do not depend, or not heavily if they do, funding from the County. Chamber of Commerce is one to come to mind.
Feel free to discuss more and or to add your thoughts.
