HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/14/2017 - Regular
February 14, 2017
99
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 February 2017. 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 an invocation was given by Pastor
Jason Hay of Lynn Haven Baptist Church. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all
present.
IN RE: CALL TO ORDER
Chairman McNamara called the meeting to order at 3:04 p.m. The roll call
was taken.
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Chairman Joseph P. McNamara, Supervisors George G.
Assaid, Al Bedrosian, Martha B. Hooker and P. Jason Peters
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: FIRST READING OF ORDINANCES
1.Ordinance accepting and appropriating Federal Lands Access
Program Funds in the amount of $1,733,750 from the Eastern
Federal Lands Highway Division of the U. S. Department of
Transportation Federal Highway Administration for extension of
the Roanoke River Greenway from the Blue Ridge Parkway to
Explore Park (Doug Blount, Director of Parks, Recreation and
Tourism)
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Mr. Blount outlined the request for the ordinance. There was no
discussion.
Supervisor Peters’ motion to approve the first reading and set the second
reading for February 28, 2017, was seconded by Supervisor Hooker and approved by
the following vote:
AYES: Supervisor Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
2.Ordinance approving a lease agreement with the Roanoke Valley
Broadband Authority (RVBA) to lease 90 square feet in the
Roanoke County Public Safety Building located at 5925 Cove
Road in Roanoke, Virginia (Rob Light, Director of General
Services)
Mr. Light outlined the request for the ordinance.
Supervisor Bedrosian inquired about the $140 a month; asking if covers all
electricity with Mr. Light advising in the affirmative and add there would also be a true
up at the end of the year. Supervisor Bedrosian then asked how was the monthly rent
calculated. Mr. Light explained the intent is not for profit; cost of recovery. Supervisor
Bedrosian then commented that he does not approve of governmental broadband and
allowing them to come in at under market prices. He added this would create a
situation that would force our current providers out because they cannot compete. He
stated he finds this disturbing and wants the viewers to know why he is voting no. He
added that the private providers are at a huge disadvantage.
There was no further discussion.
Supervisor Peters’ motion to approve the first reading and set the second
reading for February 28, 2017, was seconded by Supervisor Hooker and approved by
the following vote:
AYES: Supervisor Assaid, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: Supervisor Bedrosian
3. Ordinance approving a lease agreement with the Roanoke Valley
Broadband Authority (RVBA) for 500 square feet of ground space
on the parcel for the South County Library, located at 6303
Merriman Road in Roanoke, Virginia (Rob Light, Director of
General Services)
Mr. Light outlined the request for ordinance.
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Supervisor McNamara inquired if the $150,000 in costs associated with
the streaming of backup equipment replacement, is that an annual savings, what period
of time. Mr. Light responded it is over a period of time and asked Mr. Bill Hunter,
Director of Communications and Information Technology to respond. Mr. Hunter
responded it will avoid us from replacing equipment. Supervisor McNamara stated so it
is a single cost savings with Mr. Hunter responding in the affirmative.
Supervisor Bedrosian requested that Mr. Hunter explain the backup. Mr.
Hunter responded this equipment is actually located at the Virginia Tech campus and
we are streaming data up there as a tertiary method because the library facility is
substandard and does not provide the resiliency. All the equipment at Tech is doing is
maintaining the terabits of data that the County has as a failsafe measure if our primary
and secondary sites went down. Because of the facilities this is going to provide, it will
be unnecessary. Supervisor Bedrosian inquired of the County Attorney that all this
information that we are getting between the Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority and
Roanoke County we are disclosing payments and prices, etc. Why do we have to do
that? When they do it with the Water Authority or any other Authority, they don’t. Or if
they do something with Meridian or other places, they have not had to disclosw; there
was no transparency, but there is transparency here. Ruth Ellen Kuhnel, County
Attorney, responded the information between the Authority and a customer is protected
under a FOIA. This particular instance, are you talking about the terms of the lease,
with Supervisor Bedrosian asking why are we disclosing. His questions is when there
are terms between the Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority and the PBS; they were
not disclosed to this Board so we could see it and see what the numbers were, but now
this is being disclosed to the Board, so that is why he is asking. Ms. Kuhnel stated the
nature of this is that this instrument is a lease; a true lease between two entities and
that is a public document. Supervisor Bedrosian then stated he is seeing financial data
shown so the Roanoke Valley Broadband has to be transparent on this, but say they
were doing the same arrangement with the Water Authority. Could he see those
documents? Ms. Kuhnel stated she did not want to comment between two Authorities;
it would be for the Authority attorneys to look at. What the exclusions are for is for
proprietary information and in this instance, she is assuming because they have not
claimed any privilege, there is no proprietary information. Mr. Light added the lease
document is the instrument that have chosen because it is consistent with how they do
others and how they document things. It is better for staff to track and manage.
Supervisor Bedrosian then stated he is assuming that anything the County government
involves itself in has to be disclosed to the public, regardless of whether we wanted to
or what vehicle. If spending tax-payer dollars or gaining tax-payer dollars, we have to
disclose.
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Ms. Kuhnel stated as a general rule yes, however, staff would have to look
factually at each instance to see if there was something that one could claim a FOIA
exclusion for and it is for the protection of these very narrow categories of trade secrets,
proprietary information and it is very hard to answer on a blanket statement without
looking at a specific case. This lease was done through the County Attorney’s office
and all of the leases are public information. Supervisor Bedrosian stated we are renting
out 500 square ft. Residential homes are $100 a square foot, to purchase. If you
wanted to lease something on the open market, would it be more than $120 a year.
Supervisor Peters commented it is 500 square feet that we would both be
using; correct? Mr. Light responded it is a ground space that we will be sharing.
Supervisor Peters then commented the lease is not on the building, but the ground
space with Mr. Light responding in the affirmative.
Supervisor Bedrosian noted we have a café in the South County Library
and do we lease that space with Ms. Kuhnel responding in the affirmative. Supervisor
Bedrosian asked what we charged for that space. Ms. Kuhnel stated she did write the
lease but could not remember the actual terms. In a fair market transaction, we put a
value on the service that the County would receive as a benefit to the citizens. So, if
you are asking whether that is a true market rate, two negotiating parties can put a
value on any factors they want. In the County’s discretion, we felt it was important to
have a service that our citizens could utilize in terms of a coffee shop. Supervisor
Bedrosian commented are you saying in terms of the coffee shop, we would have a low
lease cost because we were using that as a service to the people of Roanoke County.
Ms. Kuhnel advised that was a factor in the negotiations; she was not saying it was fair
market because she could not remember the terms of the lease. Mr. Light advised it
was 5% of their receipts. Ms. Kuhnel stated they wanted to make sure it was fair to the
service provider because they did not want to ask them to come in and not make any
money.
Supervisor Assaid’s motion to approve the first reading and set the second
reading for February 28, 2017, was seconded by Supervisor Peters and approved by
the following vote:
AYES: Supervisor Assaid, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: Supervisor Bedrosian
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IN RE: SECOND READING OF ORDINANCES
1. Ordinance authorizing the granting of permanent drainage and
traffic easements and temporary construction drainage
easements on property owned by the County of Roanoke at 305
East Main Street, Salem, Virginia to the Commonwealth of Virginia
for a road improvement project on U.S. Route 11/460, East Main
Street in Salem, Virginia (Rob Light, Director of General Services)
There were no changes from first reading. There was no discussion.
ORDINANCE 021417-1 AUTHORIZING THE GRANTING OF
PERMANENT DRAINAGE AND TRAFFIC EASEMENTS AND
TEMPORARY CONSTRUCTION DRAINAGE EASEMENTS ON
PROPERTY OWNED BY THE COUNTY OF ROANOKE AT 305
EAST MAIN STREET, SALEM, VIRGINIA TO THE
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA FOR A ROAD IMPROVEMENT
PROJECT ON U.S. ROUTE 11/460, EAST MAIN STREET IN
SALEM, VIRGINIA
WHEREAS, it is proposed by the Commonwealth of Virginia for a Virginia
Department of Transportation (VDOT) road improvement project to widen or improve
State Highway Route 460, Project 0460-12-105, R201, from 0.0060 Mi. E. Int. Rte. 311,
to 0.1002 Mi. E. Int. Parkdale Drive, in City of Salem, Virginia; and
WHEREAS, the improvements will add a turn lane, benefit pedestrian travel and
provide drainage improvements beginning at the intersection of East Main Street and
Thompson Memorial Drive and extending east approximately 0.55 miles. The project
also includes traffic and pedestrian signal improvements; and
WHEREAS, the Roanoke County Courthouse and Jail complex is located on the
northwest corner at the intersection of East Main Street and Thompson Memorial Drive.
This ordinance will provide the Commonwealth of Virginia with the necessary
permanent traffic and drainage easements (0.029 acres) as well as a temporary
construction drainage easement (0.013 acres) for this Virginia Department of
Transportation (VDOT) project; and
WHEREAS, the proposed easements will serve the interests of the public and is
necessary for the public health, safety and welfare of citizens of the County of Roanoke;
and
WHEREAS, Section 18.04 of the Roanoke County Charter directs that the
acquisition and disposition of real estate be authorized only by ordinance; and
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WHEREAS, first reading of this ordinance was held on January 24, 2017 and the
second reading was held on February 14, 2017; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to the provision of Section 16.01 of the Charter of Roanoke
County, the interest in real estate to be conveyed are hereby declared to be surplus,
and are hereby made available for other public uses by conveyance of the necessary
permanent traffic and drainage easements, as well as a temporary construction
drainage easement to the Commonwealth of Virginia for the completion of a VDOT road
improvement project on property owned by the County of Roanoke located at the
Roanoke County Courthouse/Jail complex.
BE IT ORDAINED by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia, as
follows:
1. That the consideration of $1.00 cash for the permanent right and easement to
use that certain land from opposite Route 460 East Main Street Construction
base line Station 12+62.13 to opposite Route 460 East Main Street Station
13+93.20, containing 1,283 square feet (0.029 acres), more or less is hereby
authorized.
2. The temporary right and easement to use that certain land from opposite
approximate Route 460 East Main Street construction baseline Station
12+64.02 to opposite Route 460 East Main Street construction baseline
Station 13+95.48, containing 565 square feet (0.013 acres), more or less is
hereby authorized.
3. That the sum of $14,000 is accepted and appropriated from the
Commonwealth of Virginia for the purpose of a permanent drainage
easement, permanent traffic easement, temporary construction easement for
drainage, wall (D-900), any and all appurtenances thereon, and any and all
damages.
4. That the County Administrator, or any Assistant County Administrator is
hereby authorized to execute such documents and take such further actions
as may be necessary to accomplish this conveyance, all of which shall be on
a form approved by the County Attorney.
5. That this ordinance shall be effective on and from the date of its adoption.
On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the ordinance, seconded by
Supervisor Hooker and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian Hooker, Peters, McNamara
NAYS: None
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IN RE: CONSENT AGENDA
RESOLUTION 021417-2 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 February
14, 2017, 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 – December 20, 2016
2. Resolution requesting acceptance of Berkeley Place Drive and Campbell
View Lane into the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Secondary
Road System
3. Resolution expressing the appreciation of the Board of Supervisors of
Roanoke County to Russell Bruce Lowe, Senior Appraiser, upon his
retirement after twenty-seven (27) years of service
4. Confirmation of appointment to the Audit Committee
5. Request to accept and allocate grant funds in the amount of $2,633.10 from
the Commonwealth of Virginia for the Library of Virginia's Records
Preservation Program
On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the ordinance, seconded by
Supervisor Hooker and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian Hooker, Peters, McNamara
NAYS: None
RESOLUTION 021417-2.a REQUESTING ACCEPTANCE OF
BERKELEY PLACE DRIVE AND CAMPBELL VIEW LANE INTO
THE VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
SECONDARY SYSTEM
WHEREAS, the streets described on the attached Addition Form AM-4.3, fully
incorporated herein by reference, are shown on plats recorded in the Clerk's Office of
the Circuit Court of Roanoke County; and
WHEREAS, the representative for the Virginia Department of Transportation has
advised this Board that the street(s) meet the requirements established by the Virginia
Department of Transportation’s Subdivision Street Requirements; and
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WHEREAS, the County and the Virginia Department of Transportation have
entered into an agreement on March 9, 1999 for comprehensive stormwater detention,
which applies to this request for addition.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Board requests the Virginia
Department of Transportation to add the street(s) described on the attached Additions
Form AM-4.3 to the secondary system of state highways, pursuant to §33.2-705, Code
of Virginia, and the Department's Subdivision Street Requirements, after receiving a
copy of this resolution and all outstanding fees and documents required of the
developer, whichever occurs last in time.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, this Board guarantees a clear and unrestricted
right-of-way, as described, and any necessary easements for cuts, fills and drainage;
and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a certified copy of this resolution be
forwarded to the Residency Administrator for the Virginia Department of Transportation.
On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the resolution, seconded by
Supervisor Peters and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian Hooker, Peters, McNamara
NAYS: None
RESOLUTION 21417-2.b EXPRESSING THE APPRECIATION OF
THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF ROANOKE COUNTY TO
BRUCE B. LOWE, SENIOR APPRAISER, UPON HIS
RETIREMENT AFTER MORE THAN TWENTY SEVEN (27)
YEARS OF SERVICE
WHEREAS, Bruce B. Lowe was employed by Roanoke County on June 26,
1989; and has served in the positions of Appraiser and Senior Appraiser in the Real
Estate Valuation Department during his tenure with Roanoke County; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Lowe retired on January 1, 2017, after twenty seven (27) years
and six (6) months of devoted, faithful and expert service to Roanoke County; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Lowe, throughout his employment with Roanoke County, has
been instrumental in improving the quality of life and providing services to the citizens of
Roanoke County; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Lowe retired as a Senior Appraiser with the Real Estate
Valuation Office. It is extremely rare in our society today, to see an employee dedicate
his professional life to one workplace for this period of time. Bruce is a military veteran
that served in the Unites States Army stationed in Germany. After the military, Bruce
returned to Wise, Virginia and received his degree from UVa-Wise. While employed by
Roanoke County, Bruce earned his Certified Residential License, passed numerous
IAAO and VAAO classes, became and has remained a member of the VAAO since
1989, and spent many hours mentoring new appraisers to the Roanoke County Real
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Estate Valuation Office. Bruce deserves much credit for his involvement with the many
general reassessments and also his work and knowledge of single family and rural
property appraisals he has completed for many years for Roanoke County. Not only has
he been a positive influence for the Real Estate Valuation Office, but he has played a
major role while serving on committees for Roanoke County and the VAAO. Bruce has
been a member and Chairman of the EAC for many years. During his tenure with EAC
he helped with the Christmas Luncheons, and started a food donation program for
departments throughout Roanoke County. This program allowed County employees to
show their commitment to the community by donating canned food to our area food
bank. Bruce was also instrumental in helping with Roanoke County picnics for
employees while serving on this committee. Bruce served as a Board Director for the
Virginia Association of Assessing Officers and served on many committees during his
tenure with the VAAO. As a Director he was responsible for budget, legislation,
seminars and conferences for the organization. He also was Chairman of the Land Use
Committee and helped organize many seminars on Land Use for all those around the
State of Virginia. He served on the Education Committee which provided education
classes to those who work in the assessment field in the State of Virginia. As a member
of the Education Committee, he also chaired a subcommittee which recommended
candidates to take their first IAAO appraisal class. Bruce also served as Flag Bearer
/Sargent at Arms. His commitments to the Roanoke County assessment process and
his dedication to the Virginia Association of Assessing Officers were served with
distinction. May your retirement be as great as the time we had with you in this office;
and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors of
Roanoke County expresses its deepest appreciation and the appreciation of the citizens
of Roanoke County to BRUCE B. LOWEfor more than twenty seven (27) years of
capable, loyal and dedicated service to Roanoke County; and
FURTHER, the Board of Supervisors does express its best wishes for a happy
and productive retirement.
On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the resolution, seconded by
Supervisor Peters and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian Hooker, Peters, McNamara
NAYS: None
A-021417-2.c
A-021417-2.d
IN RE: CITIZENS’ COMMENTS AND COMMUNICATIONS
Paul Morrissey of 4902 Grandin Road stated he lives five miles down the
road, Electric Road. He is actually representing an organization that started a couple of
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years ago, the Farrington Government Housing Project on Electric Road; he cannot
remember the cross street. Suffice to say that the reason he is here specifically is to
represent the people who use wheelchairs, he is not one of those. He actually falls into
the category of not having his own wheels. So, we have a similar problem here. But
that problem is far greater than his because he can always walk, take a bike or
whatever, but they cannot. They are stuck in Farrington because there is no bus
service down Electric Road, Grandin Road is the cross street by the way, and because
there is no public bus service that affects him of course. He can always hike 2 ½ miles
to the bus. If he is looking fit and spry that day, that is not always the case, he has
some Stage IV metastatic bone cancer and has his own limitations. The wheelchair
problem actually is this, they can use the Radar minibus service and get into the City
and that works just fine for them, but if they want to go down Electric Road, either
direction, east or west, they have a major problem because the service that they use,
Radar, is Roanoke City operated and will only take them into the City, it will not go down
Electric Road. So, they cannot use the service. A prime example is that none of them
could get to this meeting. There is wheelchair access to this building, this magnificent
building, but they cannot get here, major problem. How could they get here? They
could get here very easily, all the County has to do or however does this stuff,
Department of Parks, whoever. All they have to do is to join the two minibus services
into one Company and have one pass for everybody so that the wheelchair people and
himself as well only have one access code for the service that goes into the City and for
the Service that does down into the County, which will give everybody access to the
minibus service and will take them anywhere virtually in the City, including Salem. Right
now, they cannot do that. They are absolutely paralyzed, literally, a lot of them are
paralyzed physically, but they are paralyzed transportation wise because they simply
cannot get down Electric Road and so that cuts off probably 80% of the services that
they could be using, himself included. It cost him $12 to get here by cab today. Three
dollars for the minibus versus $12 dollars for the cab and he has to get back and that is
another $12. It runs into some cash. So, we are looking at a situation here that is very,
very important for the less fortunate of us in society and we have about a dozen at
Farrington, which is a government housing project and some of them are paraplegic and
it is very sad. They are stuck. He was talking to one of them the other day. She stated
that she is so fed up with the situation so she is going back to New York City. He hopes
she does not go, because she loves Roanoke, but it is not good for that situation. He
would ask the committee here if they could use their influence to have one pass. One
pass would solve the problem. It would give the people at Farrington and anybody else
who is on the borderline of the City and the County the use of both services, one pass is
all he is asking; a technical computer thing. They use the same computer, so it would
just be a matter of tweaking the computer and then you have the problem solved.
Chairman McNamara stated it may or may not be an easy solution
because of the way the funding comes in for those two respective organizations, but it
sounds reasonable and asked the County Administrator to review the situation and
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provide a memo; it would be appreciated. Sometimes things appear easier than they
are because he knows there is a lot of federal funding that comes into Radar for sure as
well as Cortran, but we will look into it. The other problem if he would like to wait
around until after the meeting, he goes right by that way and would be glad to give him
a lift.
IN RE: REPORTS
Supervisor moved to receive and file the following reports. The motion
carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, Peters, McNamara
NAYS: None
1. Unappropriated, Board Contingency and Capital Reserves Report
2. Outstanding Debt Report
IN RE: REPORTS AND INQUIRIES OF BOARD MEMBERS
Supervisor Hooker stated she just has one quick announcement and it is
something that she became aware of that is being offered by a local church, Fellowship
Community Church. She wants to bring awareness and actually offer an invitation to
area churches to participate in a work shop on partnering with local schools and it will
help meet the needs of some of our youth and their families. It is a one-day training and
will take place on March 24, 2017, from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm at Fellow Community
Church on Red Lane. It is such a great opportunity for churches to help meet the needs
in our community to step up some volunteerism.
Supervisor Peters would like to address a couple of things. In the news
the last few weeks, congratulations need to be given to the Virginia Blue Ridge group.
He saw where they have had another great year in 2016 and also the Roanoke
Regional Partnership, he saw some good numbers coming out of there. So, he wanted
to congratulate those two groups. They continue to do a great job on our tourism and
our job growth and as usual he would like to thank all of our employees for everything
that they do and keep Roanoke County moving day by day and keeps us safe.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated he has a few items and will be brief on each
one. He always make a point when things happen on the National level are really local
issues because as he always states, no one lives in a city called federal. They live in
the City of Roanoke, County of Roanoke or Town of Vinton. They live in cities, towns
and counties so it is important that we talk about some of these issues because they will
affect us or already affect us. One of them was as he was driving one day and drove
past the airport and saw a group of protestors and they were protesting immigration
“pause” or “ban” whatever people are calling it. He thought it was interesting that it has
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hit our local County, our area, our City. He actually supports what is going on and it is
important he thinks that people understand what is it we are actually having a
conversation on because some people will call it a ban and some people will call it
whatever and we actually need to understand what it is it. It is a pause from allowing
immigrants from other counties that we deem could harm us. That is all it is and the
deporting of some that are here illegally. It is amazing because in the federal statutes if
you are here, but without the authority to be here, it is a criminal offense and he was
reading, six months is the least amount of time you could be put into jail if you are in the
United States and you do not have the right to be here; you did not cross in the right
way. So, he wants to appeal to everybody’s common sense on some of these issues.
It isn’t a ban on all Muslims, obviously as it has been stated many, many times there are
40 counties that are predominately Muslim that are not being allowed into the United
States. So, again, we are a County that allows people to come into the United States.
They live in our Counties, they live in our communities and we are open. What we don’t
want is something that could happen in our County something that we could have
prevented and if somebody is here illegally it is our sworn duty as a local elected
officials to protect the citizens of our community and he thinks that is important. The
second item was the choice of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. He thoroughly
enjoy the topic of education. He grew up overseas. He was educated in a Catholic
School for 8 years and then went to an international school for about a year to a year
and a half and then when he came to the United States, he went to a public government
school for four years and he home schools his children now. He has had a breath of
being in certain schools and educating his children certain ways. He finds that a lot of
people, at least the buzz you hear, get very nervous when someone comes in and
supports choice in education. He loves choice in education and thinks everybody
should be very open minded about this because we are so open minded about diversity,
but when it comes to education, we want no diversity in education. We want everybody
going down the same path. He thinks it is awesome. We ought to have public
education, private education, home school education, open all of this up and be very
accepting of all of it. Because once you are accepting of all kinds of education, even
education that he may not like, who cares, let it all compete against each other and at
the end of the day we are going to get the best education at the lowest cost. Bringing
that locally home, he was at a joint meeting with the Roanoke County School Board and
he is concerned about the future education in our government schools because he
thinks it is unsustainable. The amount of money that we are spending, which is about
$10,000 a student and the amount of renovations we have to do. We have 33 buildings
in the school system and 27 are schools and 6 are other types of buildings; 48 years is
the average age. We are just getting ready to do Cave Spring, which he thinks is $35 or
$36 million. We don’t have this money; most of it we will have to borrow. It is
unsustainable to do it that way. He would just tell everybody to be very open about new
st
ideas for education. We are in the 21 century, things can be done differently, which
would help us lower costs. One other thing, President Trump on restating the rule that
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was first instituted by President Regan that stopped funding for non-profits that are
abortion providers. A good lesion for our County to think about as we provide funding or
resources to organizations that give that money to Planned Parenthood. We are
starting at the top now and saying no more of that and he would like to say thank you to
Present Trump for pushing that and he really hopes that our County does the same.
Finally, the issue of broadband. It was brought up today and wants to go full circle on
this. It is so important to him. He loves the free marketplace and he just sees
broadband as taking a splice of the free market and getting government involved in it to
such an extent that we are going to be losing providers that have been helping us for
over a decade now. He heard one provider that has already put $70 million of
infrastructure in Roanoke County alone and we now keep chipping away at the
marketplace by putting government taxpayer dollars in it. The fact is there is no
transparency with the Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority. He brought that up today
because we are showing a little transparency on the deals with the lease, but the
Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority has the right to negotiate deals with taxpayer
money, because that is where they get their money, it is taxpayer dollars; they don’t
make their own money. They take that money and they do deals with the Water
Authority, PBS, Meridian and we don’t know how they are spending that money and just
here down the road in Bristol, Virginia. There was total corruption where the CEO of a
contracting firm was put in jail because of the corruption that was going on down in
Bristol, Virginia. The same CEO of that company was put in jail; that company changed
its name and his brother became the CEO and those are the folks doing the Roanoke
County broadband. Folks, he does not know why we are going down this path and why
we continue to do these things, but we need open transparency on everything that has
a penny of taxpayer dollars attached to it.
Supervisor McNamara stated he has a couple of comments. We had a
number of people from Roanoke County who went and met with legislators. He had an
opportunity to go with them last week. When you look at we don’t always get everything
we want, our legislators in Richmond work very hard and they work on our behalf and
you really see that when they are working as a regional effort as opposed to a
democratic or republican effort. We saw the watering down of the broadband bill was
one of our big desires and they were efficient in accomplishing that. So, the wanted to
thank them for that work. As far as broadband goes, that discussion was held a year
ago, but would like to remind everyone if the private sector was providing us what we
needed, we would not be in the broadband business. We are going to arm ourselves to
be competitive in the marketplace and he thinks Roanoke Valley Broadband is one leg
in that process. Finally, he was on a radio or tv show last week and he invited folks to
th
come to the Board meeting on February 14 so if you don’t have plans and you don’t
know what you want to do for Valentine’s Day, you can bring your date to the Board
meeting. A lot of people had to have heard that but he does not see anybody who
came with their date to the Board meeting and it has been a short meeting and kind of
February 14, 2017
112
entertaining and there is no admission charge, so he is a little disappointed in that. He
does wish everybody a happy holiday.
IN RE: CLOSED MEETING
At 3:44 p.m., Supervisor McNamara moved to go into closed meeting
following the work sessions pursuant to the Code of Virginia Section 2.2-3711.A.1
Personnel, namely discussion concerning appointments to the Roanoke Valley
Resource Authority and the Virginia Western Community College Board of Directors.
The motion was seconded by Supervisor Peters and carried by the following recorded
vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, Peters, McNamara
NAYS: None
The closed meeting was held from 4:45 pm until 4:49 p.m.
IN RE: CERTIFICATION RESOLUTION
At 4:50 p.m., Supervisor McNamara moved to return to open session and
adopt the certification resolution. The motion was seconded by Supervisor Peters.
RESOLUTION 021417-3 CERTIFYING THE CLOSED MEETING
WAS HELD IN CONFORMITY WITH THE CODE OF VIRGINIA
WHEREAS, the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia has convened
a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in
accordance with the provisions of The Virginia Freedom of Information Act; and
WHEREAS, Section 2.2-3712 of the Code of Virginia requires a certification by
the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia, that such closed meeting was
conducted in conformity with Virginia law.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Supervisors of
Roanoke County, Virginia, hereby certifies that, to the best of each member’s
knowledge:
1. Only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting
requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting which this
certification resolution applies; and
2. Only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening
the closed meeting were heard, discussed or considered by the Board of Supervisors of
Roanoke County, Virginia.
February 14, 2017 113
On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the resolution, seconded by
Supervisor Peters and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian Hooker, Peters, McNamara
NAYS: None
IN RE: ADJOURNMENT
Chairman McNamara adjourned the meeting at 4:50 p.m.0S itted by: Approved by:
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February 14, 2017
114
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