HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/11/2016 - Regular
October 11, 2016
427
Roanoke County Administration Center
5204 Bernard Drive
Roanoke, Virginia 24018
The Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia met this day atthe
Roanoke County Administration Center, this being the second Tuesday and the first
regularly scheduled meeting of the month of October 2016. Audio and video recordings
of this meeting will be held on file for a minimum of five (5) years in the office of the
Clerk to the Board of Supervisors.
IN RE: OPENING CEREMONIES
Before the meeting was called to order, a moment of silence was
observed and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all present.
IN RE: CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Peters called the meeting to order at 3:02 p.m. The roll call was
taken.
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Chairman P. Jason Peters,Supervisors George G. Assaid,
Al Bedrosian, Martha B. Hooker and Joseph P. McNamara
MEMBERS ABSENT:
None
STAFF PRESENT:
Thomas C. Gates, County Administrator; Daniel R.
O’Donnell, Assistant County Administrator; Richard
Caywood, Assistant County Administrator; Ruth Ellen
Kuhnel, County Attorney; Amy Whittaker, Public Information
Officer and Deborah C. Jacks, Chief Deputy Clerk to the
Board
IN RE: REQUESTS TO POSTPONE, ADD TO, OR CHANGE THE ORDER OF
AGENDA ITEMS
Ruth Ellen Kuhnel, County Attorney asked that New Business Item E.2 be
postponed. There were no objections.
Thomas C. Gates, County Administrator requested the addition of a
Briefing concerning Mountain Valley Pipeline with Richard Caywood, Assistant County
Administrator and Howard B. Hall, Chief of Police. There were no objections.
October 11, 2016
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IN RE: PROCLAMATIONS, RESOLUTIONS, RECOGNITIONS AND AWARDS
1. Proclamation declaring October 23-30, 2016, as Red Ribbon Week
in the County of Roanoke
Proclamation was read by the Clerk.
IN RE: BRIEFINGS
1. A briefing to update the Board of Supervisors on the Mountain
Valley Pipeline (Richard L. Caywood, Assistant County
Administrator; Howard B. Hall, Chief of Police
Briefing was given. Mr. Caywood outlined the information that he had
provided the Board in an email and Chief Hall outlined for the Board with the actions
they can and cannot take under these circumstances.
Chairman Peters asked Kathy Chandler to go ahead and speak at this
time versus under Citizen Comments.
Ms. Chandler commented she is the property owner in question from the
day before. She spoke with the Board in July and gave them an update to that point
from her personal experiences with MVP and she distinguishes herself not as a
landowner, but a homeowner. She has her family on Bent Mountain. She lives on a
space they call a non-traditional neighborhood with a larger yard than some people. The
path of the pipeline is slated in two ways to insult her property. One is a corridor of
intended pipeline placement, which slices her property in half and then they also want
all of Green Hollow Drive as an access road, so there is a ninety degree cut through her
property and will forever see them coming and going on a daily basis should they gain
permission for this. So, the insult is more than just going through random land in
Western Virginia. Since she has talked to the Board in July, if you will remember, they
were out of town and had two events where they came and officers were not able to
excuse them from the property because she was not present as the landowner even
though Chief Hall and Ms. Kuhnel spent a lot of time and everybody agreed that it was
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her and her husband on the phone. She spoke to the Board in July on the 19 and the
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very next day, the 20 they arrived again with a crew of surveyors Dale Curry was the
Chief in charge that day. She introduced herself and asked where they wanted to go.
He advised they intended to come to her property and she advised she had sent a letter
(she also had a broken foot) and she did not intend to let them on the property today.
He asked if she intended to call the police to which she responded she would if she had
to. He advised he would call for her and then he went to the highway and proceed to
call the police. That day, two officers came who were very helpful; took names on her
behalf, asked them to leave on her behalf and Mr. Curry refused to leave. She said to
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the officer, “what do you mean, he refused to leave?” He said, “We are going to work,”
and they walked right past her; there were other landowners present on that morning
and her two children and the officer asked her if she wanted to go to the magistrate and
swear out a warrant. She advised she did not and she added that she had just told
them she wants to do this peaceably. They entered her property and she chose to
follow them. So, she put her two children and her broken foot into the car, drove ¾ of a
mile to the end of the road they want for a permanent access, climbed over a cattle
fence, hiked up into her field and watched them struggle with what parcel they were on
by GPS, etc. She followed them over hill and dale and Chief Hall and Ms. Kuhnel
helped us out of that situation with a great deal of struggle. Then, all of a sudden, they
were gone. So, in August we get court papers; it will be settled in court and she and her
husband agreed to in September when all of sudden their witness cannot make it. So,
they offered more dates. On September 13, 2016, and she tells the Board these
vignettes because they need to know that they don’t just come on those days, they
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come a lot that she does not call the police all the time. So, on September 13, two
surveyors are walking down the road. She asked them what their business was and
they advised they were coming to survey caves on the Fraley property at the end of the
road. She advised the end of the road is her property and she recently had it
resurveyed and she is very clear on exactly where her boundaries are for all parcels
involved. She repeated, “caves?” and he said, eh.” So, she followed them. Robin Wall
came and talked to her, she was the Crew Chief that day. She said, “Yes, we are going
to the Fraley property.” She followed them in her car, she watched where they went.
They did not address any Fraley property until they hit the driveway, took a left, ten
paces in took a right and you are very quickly on her land. So, she watched them walk
well past her new boundary and said that she was giving them the courtesy now of
letting you know you are no longer on Fraley property, to which they responded, “oh.”
Ms. Chandler stated, “You are not even using GPS, what are you using to find your
way.” They had GPS and property maps. They left, pretended to look at Fraley
property and the just went straight down the road. On October 4, 2016, they were doing
historical work to find a research district, we had an archeologist with us. They hiked on
two parcels behind and across an old road to look at somebody’s rock formations and
artifacts and we came out, our little team of four, and somebody said, “surveyors,” which
she thought was a crazy thing to say, but here comes Dale Curry with a crew of center-
line surveyors, who are on Jan Brokaw’s property, which is just a parcel behind them.
We asked to see their permission letter to which they have shown her repeatedly a
Xerox copy of a little green card that you sign for certified mail. She contacted Jan
because she is not the landowner, she has denied permission, but she cannot come
because she is at work. So, she just pictures for her and we watched what they did and
made sure that the adjoining parcels were not invaded. One of the crew chiefs
indicated to one of our team of four, that they intended to survey that day, parcels 61
and 62, which are two of the numbers in their language that mean her and that person
challenged them and said, “No, that is Chandler property and you are not to go there
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today. They have not given permission.” The response was, “I have driven four hours
so I guess I will have to just go home.” On October 5, 2016, a new crew comes of
archeologists, again to Jan’s property behind her and their job then is to do
archeological finds and we walked in with them and stood and one bank and there is a
huge wetland and then her property on the other side. They were not familiar with
where her property boundary was and she gave them a heads-up and told them where
not to go to cross. They also had a grid of archeological intended sites at 15 meters
they drawn this grid of holes that they dig and they look for artifacts and the science
says you just go so far and if you find something do something else. Long story short,
the grid map that he had included her land. So, again, she watched them work their
way through the wetlands. She then stopped, because they are very good a cajoling a
landowner into getting distracted and she suddenly said to her partner, “they are not on
Jan’s land, they are headed to mine.” So, she got in her car and ran around, quite a
trek. Her corridor path alone is ½ mile, over hill and dale down to the other side and
heard them exclaim that they have found something, “look at the soil change, bright red
color, there must be 30 or 40 of them, maybe 80 to 100.” So when they came out she
asked them, “what did you find?” and they said they did not find anything. No soil
samples, no pictures, no artifacts. It is hard to believe they did not find anything
because they sounded excited. On October 8, 2016, Dale Curry, a land agent, he has
been talking to people about easements and came to someone that adjoins her property
and the woman was so intimidated that she was in tears and her husband felt
threatened enough that he found a weapon, but she was not there. This brings up the
issue of people feeling unsafe. On the night of the archeological survey, someone
identified a truck that no one was familiar with and she did not drive back that night
because she had kids with her, but the next day she went back and found somebody
sitting in a car with a shotgun, playing sentry. So, the constant invasion, secret
invasion, fibbing about why they are really there and where they are really headed, has
people on alert and just by happenstance fended them off of her property a number of
times and so yesterday they come to another event where she thought, okay, we are
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going to handle this the same way that they helped her on the 20 and it did not happen
that way. She explained to the officer that she had a court date, we agreed to that
being the next step, to settle in court, but they jumped it and came with more than 32
survey takers of all disciplines and wetlands being one and she has been more than
once been assayed for wetlands. Long story short, they got a lot of information that she
feels belongs to her as a landowner. They came, they spread and they took. She does
not know if they will be back, they are noticed for today (but she has not seen them),
tomorrow and perhaps again in the future. What her final ask would be in your efforts to
look at the statute and the cases that are pending, which she was one and she does not
know where it stands. These people don’t operate the same way that normal, law
abiding citizens do. She has so often not been told the truth and deceived and she
thinks the Board has had a taste of that. Her neighbors have said, if you cannot help
get them off, does somebody really want them there. She cannot imagine why, but she
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guessed she is going to ask somehow that the Board design amongst themselves a
way to expand advocacy for the landowners, rather than shrink it because believing
them to simply have a letter that simply says they are coming, which is the letter she
had, however, she had agreed to a court date, doesn’t seem right. To have them come
and take what they want anyway with a date pending does not seem right to her.
IN RE: NEW BUSINESS
1. Request to approve proposed amendment to the Volunteer
Incentive Program (VIP)(Stephen G. Simon, Chief of Fire and
Rescue)
A-101116-1
Also in attendance with Chief Simon were Chief Guffy and Chief Oakes
from the Vinton First Aid Crew and Vinton Fire Department.Chief Simon outlined the
request.Supervisor McNamara commented he felt the changes were appropriate.
Supervisor Bedrosian asked for clarification that they were not changing
any amounts. What we are changing is going back to the way it was reported before
with Chief Simon advising in the affirmative.
Chairman Peters advised he was concerned with removing a call number
because we are good to our volunteers, but there is a sense of accountability. Our call
volumes continue to slow down. He added that it takes a lot of money to train people
and we may need to revisit further down the road.
Supervisor McNamara moved to approve the proposed amendment;
Supervisor Hooker seconded the motion. The motion was approved by the following
vote:
AYES: Supervisor Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
2. Resolution adopting a Legislative Program for the 2017 session of
the Virginia General Assembly and petitioning the General
Assembly to favorably consider the topics and issues addressed
herein (Ruth Ellen Kuhnel, County Attorney; Tori Williams,
Planner II)
This agenda item was postponed.
IN RE: FIRST READING OF ORDINANCES
1.Ordinance to accept the conveyance of three (3) parcels of
unimproved real estate for Lila Drive, Hollins Magisterial District
(David Holladay, Planning Administrator)
October 11, 2016
432
Mr. Holladay outlined the request for the ordinance. There was no
discussion. Supervisor Bedrosian’s motion to approve first reading and set the second
reading and public hearing for October 25, 2016, was seconded by Supervisor Peters
and approved by the following vote:
AYES: Supervisor Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
IN RE: SECOND READING OF ORDINANCES
1. Ordinance of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Roanoke,
Virginia authorizing Roanoke County support of financing by the
Western Virginia Regional Industrial Facility Authority (Thomas
Gates, County Administrator; Rebecca Owens, Director of
Finance)
Mr. Gates outlined the ordinance and advised there were no changes from
the first reading. He further added that both Roanoke City and Salem City have
approved. No changes from first reading. Both City and Salem have approved.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated they are taking property off the market and
he thinks it belongs in the free-market system.
ORDINANCE 101116-2 OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF
THE COUNTY OF ROANOKE, VIRGINIA AUTHORIZING
ROANOKE COUNTY SUPPORT OF FINANCING BY THE
WESTERN VIRGINIA REGIONAL INDUSTRIAL FACILITY
AUTHORITY
WHEREAS(the
, the Western Virginia Regional Industrial Facility Authority
“Authority”)
is a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia duly created
pursuant to the Virginia Regional Industrial Facilities Act, Chapter 64 of Title 15.2 of the
(the “Act”)
Code of Virginia of 1950, as amended ; and
WHEREAS
, the Act authorizes the Authority to borrow money to pay the costs of
real estate and facilities for manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, office or other
commercial purposes in order to promote economic development in the geographical
area served by the Authority, to accept funds from counties, cities and towns and use
the same for Authority purposes, to make loans and to enter into contracts of any kind
to accomplish the purposes of the Authority; and
WHEREAS
, in order to further the purposes of the Act, the Authority proposes to
undertake the financing of land acquisition and related improvements and facilities,
(collectively, the “Project”)
including necessary expenses incidental thereto , and to
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433
obtain the funds therefor by the issuance of the Authority Revenue Bond (as hereinafter
defined); and
WHEREAS(the "County")
, the County of Roanoke, Virginia , the City of
(together with the County,
Roanoke, Virginia and the City of Salem, Virginia
collectively the "Participants" and each individually, including the County, a
"Participant")
agree with the need for the Project and that the Project will facilitate the
development of real estate and facilities as described above and promote commerce
and the prosperity of the citizens in the geographical area served by the Authority; and
WHEREAS
, to finance the Project, the Authority has determined to issue
pursuant to the terms of a Bond Purchase and Loan Agreement dated as of October 11,
(the "Bond Purchase and Loan Agreement")
2016 between the Authority and Union
(the “Bank”)
Bank & Trust , its Revenue Bond, Series 2016 in the maximum principal
(the “Authority Revenue Bond”)
amount of $10,000,000 and to use the proceeds
thereof to finance costs incurred in connection with the Project and to pay certain costs
of issuance of the Authority Revenue Bond; and
WHEREAS,
such Authority Revenue Bond will be secured by a pledge of the
revenues and receipts received by the Authority from payments made by the County
pursuant to the Support Agreement and the Lease Agreement (each as defined below)
and payments made by the other Participants pursuant to separate agreements
between the Authority and the other Participants as further described herein, such
payments from the County to constitute a percentage of amounts due under the terms
(the
of the Authority Revenue Bond and the Bond Purchase and Loan Agreement
"Roanoke County Portion of Support")
; and
WHEREAS,
payments from other Participants in support of payments due in
connection with financing of the Project will be due in the percentages set forth in the
Bond Purchase and Loan Agreement from the City of Roanoke and the City of Salem,
and the obligation of the Authority to pay principal and interest on the Authority Revenue
Bond will be limited to payments received from the Participants in accordance with the
terms of the Bond Purchase and Loan Agreement; and
WHEREAS,
all such payments from the Participants (including the Roanoke
County Portion of Support) have been assigned from the Authority to the Bank for the
payment of debt service on the Authority Revenue Bond pursuant to an Assignment
(the
Agreement between the Authority and the Bank, dated as of October 11, 2016
“Assignment Agreement”)
; and
WHEREAS
, the Authority will lease the Leased Property (as defined below) from
the County for an approximately 25 year term under the Ground Lease (as defined
below) and in turn, lease the Leased Property to the County for approximately 21 years
under the Lease Agreement (as defined below), and the Roanoke County Portion of
Support will be secured by an assignment of the Authority's rights under such lease
agreements to the Bank (except the right to receive indemnification, to receive notices
and to give consents and to receive its administrative expenses) under the Assignment
Agreement, which is to be acknowledged and consented to by the County;
October 11, 2016
434
WHEREAS
, there have been presented to this meeting drafts of the following
(collectively, the “Documents”)
documents in connection with the transactions
described above, copies of which shall be filed with the records of the Board of
Supervisors:
a. a Ground Lease, dated as of October 11, 2016, between the County and the
(the “Ground Lease”)
Authority conveying to the Authority a leasehold interest
(the “Leased Property”)
in the selected property, as described therein ;
b. a Lease Agreement, dated as of October 11, 2016, between the Authority and
(the “Lease Agreement”)
the County conveying to the County a leasehold
interest in such Leased Property;
c. a Support Agreement between the Authority and the County, dated as of
(the "Support Agreement")
October 11, 2016 setting forth the County's moral
obligation toward payment of rent payments under the Lease Agreement in
amounts equal to the Roanoke County Portion of Support;
d. the Bond Purchase and Loan Agreement;
e. the Assignment Agreement, assigning to the Bank certain of the Authority’s
rights under the Support Agreement, the Lease Agreement and the Ground
(the
Lease, which is to be acknowledged and consented to by the County
“Assignment Agreement”)
;
f. a Specimen Authority Revenue Bond.
The first reading of this ordinance was held on September 27, 2016 and the second
reading of this ordinance was held on October 11, 2016.
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED
by the Board of Supervisors of the
County of Roanoke, Virginia:
1. The following plan for financing is approved. The Authority shall use the
proceeds from the issuance of the Authority Revenue Bond to finance the
Project. The Authority shall lease the Leased Property from the County for a
lease term of approximately 25 years and lease the Leased Property to the
County for a lease term not less than the term of the Authority Revenue Bond
at a rent sufficient to pay when due the Roanoke County Portion of Support.
The obligation of the Authority to pay principal and interest on the Authority
Revenue Bond will be limited to payments received from the Participants in
accordance with the terms of the Bond Purchase and Loan Agreement. The
obligation of the County to pay the Roanoke County Portion of Support will be
subject to the Board of Supervisors of the County making annual
appropriations for such purpose. The amount of the Roanoke County Portion
of Support designated for support of the principal amount of the Authority
Revenue Bond shall not exceed $5,000,000. The Board of Supervisors on
behalf of the County will set forth in the Support Agreement its moral
obligation toward the payment of the Roanoke County Portion of Support. If
the Board of Supervisors exercises its right not to appropriate money for rent
payments due under the Lease Agreement in the amount of the Roanoke
October 11, 2016
435
County Portion of Support, the bondholder may terminate the Lease
Agreement or otherwise exclude the County from possession of the Leased
Property. The issuance of the Authority Revenue Bond on the terms set forth
in the Bond Purchase and Loan Agreement is hereby approved.
2. The Board of Supervisors hereby approves, acknowledges and consents to,
as appropriate, the Documents in substantially the forms submitted to this
meeting with such completions, omissions, modifications, insertions and
changes as may be approved by the Chairman or Vice Chairman of the Board
of Supervisors or the County Administrator, whose execution of the
Documents to be signed by the County shall be conclusive evidence of such
approval, acknowledgement and consent. The final terms and interest rate of
the Authority Revenue Bond in a maximum principal amount of $10,000,000
will be approved as authorized by the Authority.
3. Any authorization herein to execute a document shall include authorization to
deliver it to the other parties thereto and to record such document where
appropriate.
4. The Board of Supervisors finds and determines that the Project is in
furtherance of lawful purpose and objectives and will be in the public interest,
will benefit the citizens of the County, will increase commerce and will
promote the safety, health, welfare, convenience and prosperity of the County
and its citizens.
5. The Chairman or Vice Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, or either of
them, and the County Administrator and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors are
each hereby authorized and directed to execute the Documents to be signed
by the County as described above and such other instruments, agreements
and documents as are necessary to the proper execution and delivery of the
Support Agreement, to lease the Leased Property and to create and perfect a
complete assignment of the rents and revenues due or to become due in
favor of the Bank in accordance with the Support Agreement and the Lease
Agreement. The officers, employees and representatives of the County are
authorized and directed to work with representatives of the Authority, the
Bank, the Authority's financial advisor, the Authority's bond counsel and
representatives of the other Participants to take such actions, authorize such
services and prepare all documentation (including but not limited to fulfilling
Bank title search and other requirements related to the Leased Property)
necessary to issue the Authority Revenue Bond in accordance with the
Documents and to otherwise carry out the intent of this Ordinance.
6. All other acts of the officers, employees, agents and representatives of the
County that are in conformity with the purposes and intent of this Ordinance
and in furtherance of the issuance and sale of the Authority Revenue Bond,
the leasing of the Leased Property, the execution and delivery of the
Documents and the undertaking of the Project are hereby approved, ratified
October 11, 2016
436
and confirmed.
7. Nothing in this Ordinance, the Authority Revenue Bond or any documents
executed or delivered in relation thereto shall constitute a debt or a pledge of
the faith and credit of the County, and the County shall not be obligated to
make any payments under or in relation to the Documents except from
payments made by or on behalf of the County under the Lease Agreement
pursuant to annual appropriation thereof in accordance with applicable law.
The Board of Supervisors, while recognizing that it is not empowered to make
any binding commitment to make appropriations beyond the current fiscal
year, hereby states its intent to make annual appropriations in future fiscal
years in amounts sufficient to pay the Roanoke County Portion of Support
and hereby recommends that future Boards of Supervisors do likewise during
the term of the Authority Revenue Bond.
8. This Ordinance shall take effect immediately.
On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the ordinance, seconded by
Supervisor Peters and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: Supervisor Bedrosian
IN RE: CONSENT AGENDA
RESOLUTION 101116-3 APPROVING AND CONCURRING IN
CERTAIN ITEMS SET FORTH ON THE BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS AGENDA FOR THIS DATE DESIGNATED AS
ITEM I- CONSENT AGENDA
BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia, as
follows:
That the certain section of the agenda of the Board of Supervisors for October
11, 2016, designated as Item I - Consent Agenda be, and hereby is, approved and
concurred in as to each item separately set forth in said section designated Items 1
through 5 inclusive, as follows:
1. Approval of minutes – September 13, 2016
2. Two monetary donations given to the Roanoke County Police Department to
be used for the Project Lifesaver Program
3. Confirmation of appointment to the Economic Development Authority
(EDA)(appointed by District)
4. Request to approve holiday schedule for calendar years 2017 and 2018
5. Designation of voting delegate to the Virginia Association of Counties (VACo)
Conference to be held November 13-15, 2016
October 11, 2016
437
On motion of Supervisor Peters to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor
McNamara and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
A-101116-3.a
A-101116-3.b
A-101116.3.c
A-101116.3.d
IN RE: CITIZENS’ COMMENTS AND COMMUNICATIONS
There were none.
IN RE: REPORTS
Supervisor Peters moved to receive and file the following reports. The
motion was seconded by Supervisor McNamara carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
1. Unappropriated, Board Contingency and Capital Reserves Report
2. Outstanding Debt Report
3. Resolution No. 341 (09-16) from the Board of Supervisors of the
Western Virginia Water Authority honoring the service of H. Odell
"Fuzzy" Minnix for his service as a Director of the Authority
IN RE: REPORTS AND INQUIRIES OF BOARD MEMBERS
Supervisor Bedrosian stated he would like to talk about something that
came up earlier with Mrs. Chandler. To him, it is a sad day when we read about people
in the private sector with a private corporation being able to come on someone’s
property. We may have a difference of opinion on the whole gas pipeline. He is very
open to any energy source, in fact, if there were several people on the mountain that
wanted it run through their property because they were going to give you a financial
incentive to do that, all the power to you as it is your property. On the flip side, if you
don’t want somebody on your property, then you should have every right so that they
will not come on your property. They can find a way to go around your property. So,
they still may build it, going around your property, but they do not have a right to come
October 11, 2016
438
on your property. It is a sad day, when we lose that power and we even have our law
enforcement officials that are powerless to do anything and they are here to protect the
citizens of Roanoke County. He finds that very scary; that is what they are here for and
to protect us. Secondly, this is something that he has had some emails on and people
talking about. He is always talking about the issue of United Way giving money to
Planned Parenthood. It really bothers him that citizens are being forced to give their
taxpayer dollars to Roanoke County. Roanoke County gives it to the United Way and
United Way gives it to Planned Parenthood. He does not think that is right; we should
say no, we are not going to give United Way money if they are going to continue to give
it to a group that a lot of people, probably more than ½ of the people in the Roanoke
Valley do not care for because of the issue of abortion. The next thing he hears is that
Governor McAuliffe has started pushing through tourism, a new marketing push to bring
more of the homosexual travelers to the Commonwealth. He looks at that and says,
“What are we doing, why are we segmenting our population into different groups now
and promoting one group or another. All of us have our views of life and our faith and
no matter what you have, no matter what it is or how you do your things, but
government now getting involved in promoting that and the thing that worries him is that
we will start doing this and he is curious to see how it is being handled right here in
Roanoke with our Virginia Blue Ridge Tourism Center. Are we now going to do the
same thing? Our people going to have little decals on the windows of their businesses
saying they are homosexual friendly and if they don’t, does that mean they are biased
against this or are they discriminating? We are creating friction. Why are we doing
this? Let people do business the way they want to do it. If it was a private sector, that
is fine, but why are we using government money to give to these different organizations
in State tourism and now probably locally so they can do this. Let the private sector do
what they want with their own money. He knows that Virginia Blue Ridge Tourism will
be asking for money again this year and thinks they have a contract with us, he is not
sure. This is wrong. Giving money so they can start promoting a certain group that
today wants to be promoted.
Supervisor Peters stated as noted on the main page of our website, next
Monday is the last day to register to vote. In case anybody was wondering, we do have
a Presidential election this year. Secondly, as he discussed with a group earlier today,
thanks to our employees. No matter what we decide up here on the Board, it is our
employees and our staff that carry it out and again thank you for all you do; not only our
County employees, but our school system as well. Everybody faces a tough job ahead
of them every day.
October 11 , 2016 439
IN RE: ADJOURNMENT
Chairman Peters adjourned the meeting at 3:49 p.m.
Subs 'tted by: Approved by:
Al--
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►�eborah C. J.: P. Jason Peters
Chief Deputy erk to the Board Chairman
October 11, 2016
440
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