HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/19/2017 - Regular
December 19, 2017
421
Roanoke County Administration Center
5204 Bernard Drive
Roanoke, Virginia 24018
The Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia met this day at the
Roanoke County Administration Center, this being the second regularly scheduled
meeting of the month of December 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, a moment of silence was
observed.
IN RE: CALL TO ORDER
Chairman McNamara called the meeting to order at 3:01 p.m. The roll call
was taken.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Joseph P. McNamara 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: REQUESTS TO POSTPONE, ADD TO, OR CHANGE THE ORDER OF
AGENDA ITEMS
There were none.
IN RE: PROCLAMATIONS, RESOLUTIONS, RECOGNITIONS AND AWARDS
1. Resolution of appreciation to Al Bedrosian for his service as a
member of the Board of Supervisors from 2014-2017 (Joseph P.
McNamara, Chairman of the Board)
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RESOLUTION 121917-1 OF APPRECIATION TO AL BEDROSIAN
FOR HIS SERVICE AS A MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS FROM 2014 THROUGH 2017
WHEREAS, Al Bedrosian was elected to represent the Hollins Magisterial District
on the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County in November 2013 with a term that
started January 1, 2014, and served in that capacity through December 31, 2017; and
WHEREAS, during his tenure as a member of the Board, Supervisor Bedrosian
served with zeal and dedication, working on behalf of the people of his district and all
citizens of Roanoke County; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Bedrosian was an adamant, vocal advocate for numerous social
and political causes, most notably free-market systems and fiscal responsibility; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Bedrosian welcomed visits from all citizens and always took the
time to listen to their concerns and opinions; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Bedrosian was a tireless supporter of his constituents.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors of
Roanoke County, Virginia, expresses its deepest appreciation and that of the citizens of
Roanoke County to AL BEDROSIAN for his commitment to public service, his belief in
democratic principles and championing of citizen participation in local government; and
FURTHER, the Board of Supervisors congratulates Supervisor Bedrosian at the
conclusion of his term of office and wishes him continued success in future endeavors.
On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the resolution, seconded by
Supervisor Hooker and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Hooker, Peters, McNamara
NAYS: None
ABSTAIN: Supervisor Bedrosian
IN RE: REQUEST FOR PUBLIC HEARINGS AND FIRST READING OF
REZONING ORDINANCES - CONSENT AGENDA
1. The petition of Kimberly J. Bolden, Charlotte W. Johnston, and
Triple J Farm Events, LLC to obtain a Special Use Permit in a AG-
1, Agricultural/Rural Low Density, District and AG-3,
Agricultural/Rural Preserve, District for the operation of a special
events facility on approximately 14.954 acres, located at 5198
Blacksburg Road, Catawba Magisterial District. This request is
for a wedding event space in and adjacent to an existing barn
structure on the property. The Planning Commission may
recommend conditions to the Board of Supervisors on this new
request. The property is currently subject to an existing special
use permit that is proposed to be removed.
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The existing permit allows 21 events per year, all between April 1
and October 31, with not more than 150 persons at any single
event. There are also conditions limiting noise generation,
lighting, signage, and parking as well as the screening of portable
sanitation services. (Philip Thompson, Deputy Director of
Planning)
Supervisor McNamara’s motion to approve first reading and set the
second reading and public hearing for January 23, 2018, was seconded by Supervisor
Hooker and approved by the following vote:
AYES: Supervisor Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
IN RE: FIRST READING OF ORDINANCES
1. Ordinance accepting and appropriating grants totaling $93,530 from
the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation in the amount of $69,980
and the Preservation Trust Fund through Pathfinders for Greenways
in the amount of $23,550 for land acquisition to connect Carvins
Cove to the Hanging Rock Battlefield Trail (Doug Blount, Director of
Parks, Recreation and Tourism)
Mr. Blount outlined the request.
Kristine McCormick stated she is President of the Roanoke Chapter of the
International Mountain Bicycling Association and she is here today to speak in support
of this land acquisition and her reasons for that are increased greenway accessibility for
residents from an urban area to natural surface trains. It also impacts employers, AEP
and Allstate; having those employees being able to easily access natural surface trails.
Gravel road bikes being able to access Brushy Mountain without riding Rt. 311. There
is a beautiful loop that you can take through Carvins Cove that now requires you to ride
Rt. 311 on a bicycle and can assure everyone that it is not enjoyable. It will alleviate
congestion at the Bennett Springs parking lot for those who want to add the miles and
the challenge of climbing Brushy Mountain. She eventually envisions the possibility of
camping on this parcel and as a mountain bike tourist who regularly takes her family to
Harrisonburg to access camping and mountain bike trails, she thinks that would be a
valuable resource for not only the residents of Roanoke County and surrounding areas,
but also to increase bicycle tourism to Carvins Cove.
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Obviously, the proximity to I81 and having camping there, but also, they have seen a
huge increase in the growth of gravel road touring, so being able to bring some of those
tourists who are currently utilizing properties in Craig County and bringing them in to
spend their money in Roanoke County and being able to use gravel road bikes in
Carvins Cove and accessing Brushy Mountain..
Arthur LaRoche stated he is the Chair of the Roanoke Valley Greenway
Commission and a citizen representative from the Town of Vinton. As your background
information for this agenda item mentions, the goal of the Hinchee Trail Project is to
connect the Roanoke Valley Greenway network to the 12,463-acre Carvins Cove
Natural Reserve. As some may remember, when the Roanoke Valley Greenway Plan
was updated in 2007, the Commission added Carvins Cove to the plan as a destination
trail location. Since that time Carvins Cove has become a major trail attraction for both
riders and hikers from the Roanoke Valley, but people come from as far away as
Canada just to ride the trails at Carvins Cove. Roanoke City's focus at the Cove has
been on providing trail improvements such as parking lots and bathrooms as well as
increasing the number of miles of trails while Roanoke County has provided a trail
connection to the Cove from Hollins University, which is a section of the Tinker Creek
Greenway. The Hinchee Project is a critical link of the Hanging Rock Battlefield Trail
that will provide an opportunity for users to hike, bike or ride horses from the Hanging
Rock Battlefield Trail to Carvins Cove. The Greenway Commission is currently finalizing
the 2017 update to the Greenway Plan and as part of this process the Commission held
numerous public meetings around the valley to get input on what the public wanted to
see in the Greenway Plan and connectivity throughout the system was a common
theme expressed at these meetings. The Hinchee Trail Project will provide this
connectivity by providing our citizens improved access to the Carvins Cove Natural
Preserve. He would like to ask the Board to support the acceptance of these
appropriating grants and for the Hinchee Trail Project.
Roger Holnbach stated he resides in the Glenvar District off Bradshaw
Road in Roanoke County. He is also President of Pathfinders of Greenways. We are a
501c3 organization that has been empowered to manage the volunteers that do a lot of
the work that build our soft surface natural surface trails throughout our five to six
counties that we do work. We do a lot of work within Roanoke County. We have done
most of the trails on Read Mountain, Garst Mill Park, Green Hill Park, Explore Park; we
build trails. This particular trail we have actually spent a number of hours on restoring
culverts, removing brushy growth to prepare it to be used next year we are hoping. He
is really excited to say they could possibly have an inaugural run or mountain bike or
both going into Carvins Cove from Hanging Rock Battlefield maybe early January of
next year; a year from now. He advised they are very excited about that. They are a
501c3 and have been accumulating funds for a number of years. Mostly we use what
we get from fixing equipment and helping with tool acquisitions for our volunteers, but
this time we are pretty much breaking the bank. This is such an amazing project. We
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are taking all the savings from multitude of volunteer events and charitable events, i.e.
First Fridays, anything where we can get money is all going into this project. We are
really excited for Roanoke County to have this opportunity as it is such a critical link into
Carvins Cove Natural Preserve. It is 2.5 miles of trails in addition to what we already
have in Carvins Cove and provides a tremendous access. We encourage the Board’s
support of this and thank you all for supporting greenways and trails.
Supervisor Peters’ motion to approve first reading and set the second
reading for January 9, 2018, was seconded by Supervisor Hooker and approved by the
following vote:
AYES: Supervisor Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
IN RE: SECOND READING OF ORDINANCES
1. Ordinance accepting and appropriating funds in the amount of
$9,000 from the Bent Mountain Volunteer Fire Department to the
General Services Capital Maintenance Program (Stephen G.
Simon, Chief of Fire and Rescue)
Chief Simon advised there were no changes from first reading. There was
no discussion.
ORDINANCE 121917-2 ACCEPTING AND APPROPRIATING
FUNDS IN THE AMOUNT OF $9,000 FROM THE BENT
MOUNTAIN VOLUNTEER FIRE COMPANY TO THE GENERAL
SERVICES CAPITAL MAINTENANCE PROGRAM
WHEREAS, the Bent Mountain Volunteer Fire Company has requested County
of Roanoke support of kitchen renovations at the Bent Mountain Fire Station; and
WHEREAS, the Bent Mountain Volunteer Fire Company is contributing $9,000 to
fund approximately fifty percent (50%) of project costs; and
WHEREAS, the County contribution to the project will come from funds
previously appropriated to the General Services Capital Maintenance Program; and
WHEREAS, Section 18.04 of the Roanoke County Charter provides that funds be
appropriated by ordinance before they are expended; and
WHEREAS, first reading of this ordinance was held on December 5, 2017, and
the second reading was held on December 19, 2017.
BE IT ORDAINED by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia, as
follows:
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1. That donations in the amount of $9,000 from the Bent Mountain Volunteer
Fire Department be appropriated to the General Service Capital Maintenance Program
for the purpose of kitchen renovations as the Bent Mountain Fire Station.
2. That this ordinance shall take effect from and after the date of adoption.
On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the ordinance, seconded by
Supervisor Peters and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, Peters, McNamara
NAYS: None
IN RE: CONSENT AGENDA
RESOLUTION 121719-3 APPROVING AND CONCURRING IN
CERTAIN ITEMS SET FORTH ON THE BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS AGENDA FOR THIS DATE DESIGNATED AS
ITEM J- 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 December
19, 2017, designated as Item J - Consent Agenda be, and hereby is, approved and
concurred in as to each item separately set forth in said section designated Items 1
through 3 inclusive, as follows:
1. Approval of minutes – October 24, 2017
2. Request to accept and allocate grant funds in the amount of $15,000 from
Appalachian Power's Economic Development Growth Enhancement (EDGE)
Program
3. Request for the County of Roanoke to donate a 1999 pick-up truck to the
Roanoke Center for Animal Care and Protection
On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the resolution, seconded by
Supervisor Hooker and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, Peters, McNamara
NAYS: None
A-121917-3.a
A-121917-3.b
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IN RE: REPORTS
Supervisor McNamara moved to receive and file the following reports.
The motion was seconded by Supervisor Hooker and 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
3. Comparative Statement of Budgeted and Actual Revenues as of
November 30, 2017
4. Comparative Statement of Budgeted and Actual Expenditures and
Encumbrances as of November 30, 2017
5. Accounts Paid - November 30, 2017
6. Annual Report to the Board of Supervisors on Funds Invested in
the VML/VACO OPEB Pooled Trust – Roanoke County
7. Annual Report to the Board of Supervisors on Funds Invested in
the VML/VACO OPEB Pooled Trust – Roanoke County Schools
IN RE: REPORTS AND INQUIRIES OF BOARD MEMBERS
Supervisor Bedrosian stated thanks for the extra time. First, getting on the
Board four years ago he gave all the credit to his wife Cassidy, who was instrumental in
making that happen. She worked tirelessly and his children too; so he gives them all
the credit in allowing him to have the experience that he did of getting behind the curtain
and seeing how government operates. He is going to take some time and it is going to
bore the heck out of a lot of people, but he is going to take the time to go over some
things from the last four years. He had great opportunities as a citizen in Roanoke to
come out and be here with the five of us and pass legislation or say no to legislation that
effected a lot of people. It is quite a responsibility and quite an opportunity that he had.
Some of them were positive times and some of them were disappointments. Some of
them he regrets that we did not get other things done, but we changed two folks here
from the very beginning so you have a different group of people over time, but that is
process and he loves it and that is what America is about; representative republic and it
works well. A lot of times you will thank people and he is going to skip that, he just
cannot go around and thank everybody, but he is going to thank one person and he will
offend everybody else, but not the one person. He would like to thank Debbie Jacks;
that is a tough job, really a tough job. He remembers coming in to Roanoke County and
that was a battle that we had at the very beginning about who she really reported to; the
County Administrator or to the Board and he thinks she does a great job and thinks it is
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a very, very difficult job to do because you are in the process of everybody and
everybody is asking for stuff and he knows countless times he probably asked for
something at the very last moment to get done and she did it. So, he hopes he did not
offend anybody else that he did not say thank you, but thank you Debbie, he
appreciates it. When he ran four years ago, he said there were several issues that he
always stuck to that he thought were important and to him, one of the things about
himself is that he is very comfortable in what he believes. Others may not be, but he is.
It does not bother him. A lot of people ask, if he gets upset and he really is not. “Aren’t
up to lose, No, he is really not.” He is comfortable with what he believes and his life
goes on. He has a wonderful life beyond measure and so to him it is always great. He
does not let those other things bother him at all. He did learn a couple of things. He is
going to go through a couple of things and on some of them he knows he is going to
offend people because of his stance on them. You may think the other way but he is
not meaning to offend you. He is talking about things they did. He remembers right out
of the blocks was one of the main issues he stood for is getting us out of ICLEI and that
is not even a name we hear anymore but it is about man-made global warming within
Roanoke. He just thought to him our responsibility to human beings is to keep the water
clean and keep the air clean and do the best we can. A lot of times we fail with that but
we have great technology that helps us with that. He will leave God the job of fixing the
climate; he does not think we have anything to do with climate change. Climates
change all the time on their own. So, it taught him a great lesson, because when we
were voting on this we actually had a group here in Roanoke RCCLEAR that was a
Roanoke group and knows this Board was trying to help them stay in Roanoke to help
with the clean air, clean water part. They should jump on this; at least they are given
that opportunity and they would have nothing to do with it because they could not also
do the man-made, global warming agenda piece. It opened his eyes to what this whole
agenda, which is really a religion and he tries to stay clear of it. Again, clean water and
clean air are our responsibility and we should do everything we can and let God do the
rest. It is not in our purview and there is nothing we can do to fix it. The next thing that
was a key issue of his was letting the citizens of Roanoke County know they were our
bosses. He said he would never vote for a pay raise. When he first came in, there was
a vote on a pay raise and it passed. He voted against it and every year he has given
back that amount of pay raise, $300 plus back to Roanoke County; all four years. He
just wanted to let everyone know that he kept that commitment and we should not be
voting for our own pay raise. He would strongly urge this Board never to do that again;
put it up to a referendum is fine, but he for one thanks the citizens of Roanoke County.
You give us a lot of perks. First of all you pay us about $17,000-18,000 just to do this
job, which is amazing and thinks it is wonderful and we have perks all the time; freebies
that come their way all the time. He has brought this up before. The Board is invited to
every possible dinner, you could live your life for four year on the back of tax payers that
are basically paying for what we do. Thank you and we should never do it; hope that
never comes up again. The next issue was debt. He was looking through our debt
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figures at $164 million. When he first came on the Board, it was a little over $190
million. So, he would sense there is great optimism in that, but it really isn’t because
right around the corner, we have this big bond issue with the Cave Spring School and
we will be back up to $200 million. The thing that is disappointing and is one of his
regrets is that we have got to learn to get out of debt. We just have to. It is killing us
and he knows we think we are a small community and it is really the Federal
government that does all the debt spending, but it is local government, like us, that does
a lot of debt spending. We can get out of it. We don’t have to do it. It is a mindset is
what it is. You can save money to do the big projects, you really can, but we don’t think
that way and think it is just government’s way of doing things. It is government’s way of
basically telling taxpayers that we have a balanced budget. Basically, we borrow
money to operate, but as long as we can pay those bill, we have a “balanced budget,”
which is totally against who he is and he always had a lot of friction on this Board
because of that. He just has a hard time with that. He took some time to calculate the
amount of interest that we paid over the last twenty years and he brought it up at
another meeting. Taxpayers have paid $124 million in interest alone, just the interest,
not the product just the interest alone since 2000. If you calculate into real tax dollars it
is $6,000 for a family of four that we have spent just on interest payments alone. He
could have done something with that $6,000 because he has lived here the whole time.
Basically that $6,000 went out of his pocket and just went to interest payments. But, it
is up to us if we want to do something about it. We need to do something about it. In
addition, a sneaky that Roanoke County has done and he has brought this up before, is
create Authorities that can now borrow money. Not only do we now get close to that
$200 million in regular debt, but we have eight (8) different Authorities that borrow
money. Most notably is the Broadband Authority, which he was totally against. It is not
really on our books, they borrow the money and we just make the payment and interest
payments. It is debt and that debt among the eight (8) Authorities is a little over $200
million. It is something to think about. We cannot just blame the Federal government
for debt; it is happening in our own backyard and we really have to stand up and face
these things because it is going to hurt us. Now that he has mentioned Broadband, he
would like to make a point about that too. He was hearing some discussions on net
neutrality thing that just go voted by the FCC and he has not had a moment to really sit
and study it. There are implications supposedly for local governments getting involved
in Broadband. There was a big article about Chattanooga and all the millions they have
invested and something about this whole net neutrality could jeopardize the money they
spent. So, besides that he was a strong advocate to leave free markets the way they
are and unfortunately we jumped in with about $3.5 million of taxpayer dollars going to
the Broadband Authority (our part of it) and you know he thought at the time what a way
to say thanks to all those providers in Roanoke. We are going to drive them out if
something else does not happen. He wished that we had left that alone and let the free
market deal with it. He thinks that is a free market thing to do and his first experience
with figuring out how government thinks about free markets was the Green Ridge
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Center and when he first came in office, under a different County Administrator he
asked to see how the Green Ridge Center was doing and he was given the numbers.
The numbers were that they were making money and thinks the number at the time was
$250,000 and he was very confused because as a free market person, his thoughts are
if it is making money somebody in the free enterprise system would have done this a
long time ago. What he found out was that we did not include the cost of the building
and was considered debt to the tax payers and this was just for equipment,
memberships, etc. and he thought they have no idea how the free market works. When
you add in the cost of building was $1.8 million a year, we were losing and we are still
losing money on that proposition and he is paying for it and he is not a member. In fact,
the latest thing we did was give employees of Roanoke County a discount to go there
and we jacked up the frees for the citizens to go there, which is a little strange, but that
is the way government operates and government needs to concentrate on what
government does best and not get into the free market. It hurts the free market. He
goes to another gym and it hurts them because now they are competing with someone
who is using tax payer dollars and they are having to work hard to get members in. Just
a couple of other little things. Controversial issues, not that those were not
controversial, he is a Christian and believes in Jesus and he has the right to in a free
country. He also has a right when he comes here if does not want to stand, he does not
have to stand. We have had a couple of people come and plan in here and he does not
believe in what they believe; a different religion altogether, not like a demonization, i.e.
Hindus, etc. He remembers getting a reaction and he just wanted to bring that up as he
likes to be open and honest about these things. He thinks America is a great country
because we have religious freedom and that means he does not have to believe in what
you believe and you don’t have to believe in what he believes and you have the
freedom to do that. Anybody in here when we get up and pray, if you don’t want to feel
uncomfortable you should not have to. Don’t do it. You should not be forced to do it.
So, he wants to say that is the greatest example of total religious freedom; not having to
conform to somebody else’s thoughts or views. He is not disruptive, just quiet, but he is
not standing and not honoring that god because he does not believe in that god. So,
just want to clear the air on that and thinks it is really religious freedom more than
anything else. United Way was another one. The United Way was a lot bigger than it
is. It started before United Way is our support of non-profit organizations or any
organization outside of governmental agencies. We have to get totally out of it. We
don’t have the right, he thinks, to give anybody else Roanoke County’s citizens money
and really to help any other private organization with fund raising or in the case of
United Way, corporations have done it for a long time, but they are private.
Government should not allow check deductions for United Way. The other thing that
hurt him more was that United Way gives money for Planned Parenthood. What are we
doing? Image if United Way was giving money to some racist organization or some
whatever, we would adamantly say, “Oh, we don’t like that.” So he guesses with
abortions and racism we are okay with the abortion part, but not the racism part and he
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knows very well that United Way was giving money to some other controversial group,
boom, we would probably distance ourselves from it. He would say to Roanoke City
who actually gives money directly to Planned Parenthood. This is not our role. He
realizes abortions are legal in America, but we should not be involved in that; not paying
tax payer dollars are helping in any way. The head of United Way makes about
$200,000 a year, not a poor organization. He thinks they can do things on their own.
Education was another hot-button issue that came up. He voted no on every single
budget for Roanoke County Schools. It is interesting that over the last ten years
enrollment has been declining. We spend about $10,000 a student and he has always
brought up this fact and never got an answer; $10,000 a student with 20 to 25 students
in a classroom is $250,000 per classroom. Teacher get paid an average, he knows
everybody does not like when he says this, but this is according to the Roanoke Times
and WSLS, an average of $50,000 a year. The average teacher makes $50,000 and
entry level makes $30,000. So he calculated in his mind; $10,000 a student, 25
students equates to $250,000 for spending per classroom and we are giving the teacher
$50,000. Where does the other $200,000 go? This is a lot of money that is not going to
the actual teacher; it’s all the stuff around it, he understands, but it is not going to the
teacher. To him, there is room for improvement there. A lot of people like to say,
“Bedrosian is against education,” which is kind of silly as he home-schools his education
and that is probably the most you can be for education ever; the giving of yourself with
all the other things you are doing. He also substitute teaches over at Roanoke Valley
Christian Schools for probably ten years. They would dream of getting the type of
salaries that Roanoke County teachers get. There have been people there for twenty-
twenty-five years and are not making salaries that an average teacher makes, but that
is not what is important to them. They like to educate children. To him, we have to find
a way to do education and do it right. Prioritize it right and find out where all this extra
money is going; that is our job. Final item to right to the citizens of Roanoke County and
those that may watch this. It is really up to us, the citizens. There is a lot of pressure
on the five people that sit in these chairs. $187 million was our last budget and that is a
lot of money and there are a lot of people who would love to spend that money and they
come all the time knocking on the door to try to get this Board to spend that money in
their direction; that is the way all governments work. They are called lobbyist up in D.C.
He does not know what they are called in Roanoke County; influencers or whatever and
they are on both sides of the spectrum. He has seen Republicans sit here and
Democrats. Everybody has their little thing that they want money for and that is
dangerous and if the citizens don’t stand up and say, “I don’t like that; don’t spend my
money there” it happens. He does thank his fellow Board members. We have had
good battles and he absolutely enjoy that. A lot of people think we are all mad at each
other; but he does not think they have ever been mad at each other outside. We get
along, go upstairs and eat. We are just different, have different opinions and that is
really good. We should never be here where everybody is voting yes. He would
challenge the Board to remember that it is the citizens of Roanoke County that you
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really work for. A lot of times when you come into this building, we think we work for
Roanoke County government, but we really don’t. He probably has been one that
everybody thinks is a little standoffish and he kind of does that on purpose. He does not
stay in this building. He wants to stay outside so that it is clear what his job is. He
works for the tax payer, he does not work for the government. He works for the tax
payer representing them. He is like an attorney representing the citizens and making
sure that government is doing the right thing for them, but he does wish the Board
success in doing the things that are right and does not want you be successful in the
things he does not like. He does not like more debt, big budgets and he wants us to
lean down, but it has been a pleasure for him to be behind the curtain. It is interesting
and you see how things really work. It is confusing at times, it is big, it is involved and
all kinds of things happening at the same time. It is a great experience and everybody
should have it. People have asked him whether he will be back in government again;
he actually looks forward to doing this again in four years. He likes local government.
He thinks it easier to see what actually happens, even though he thinks it is
complicated, but the State and Federal governments are so complicated. He thinks is it
here and feels that is why citizens needs to get involved. People have also asked him
what he will be doing for the rest of his life. He did retire from Xerox earlier this year
and he did several months ago start investigating an opportunity. Actually, it is “Sweet
Frog” and he did buy a franchise that he will be starting in about a week, maybe next
year. It is just a little enjoyable thing where customers come in and eat yogurt and put
fattening things on top of it and have a great time. So, he just enjoys talking to people
and his family is going to be involved; enjoyable time and a good life. So, he wishes the
best and thank you for giving him the time.
Supervisor Hooker stated she had one quick thing. We appreciate your
zeal; we have not always agreed on all issues on some core issues we are not in
alignment. We all know that we work for the citizens and enjoy representing them and
try to portray our votes in the way our citizens are encouraging us. She is thinking he
had a lot more invitations that she had, but she certainly could not live on the meals
offered or live on the freebies offered and think we are better stewards. Wish you
Godspeed in the future.
Supervisor Peters stated as we draw the end of 2017, Mr. Bedrosian, we
appreciate your participation on the Board over the last four years. He commended the
Chairman on a good job in 2017. As he has ended several meetings this year, he
thanked the citizens for their support of his endeavors this year whether it be the
elections or his health issues or whatever the case may be, but look forward to 2018.
He thanked the employees for what they have done to make Roanoke County
successful and to all the citizens out there for all the support they give everybody on this
Board, day in and day out. Wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy and safe
New Year.
Supervisor McNamara stated this is probably his final meeting as
th
Chairman, you never know until everything is over, but come January 9, it would be his
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expectation and hope to turn the gavel over to another person on this Board. He would
like to thank his fellow Board members for the opportunity to lead the Board. The
Chairman can be somewhat like a quarterback for a football team; when things go well
the Chairman gets all the credit and when things go back is gets all the blame. The
reality is that the Chairman just orchestrates a meeting. The Chairman has one vote
just like every other person on this Board has one vote. So, it is appropriate that we not
get in a rut with repeating Chairmen year after year. The other thing that he would like
to say is tomorrow the County employees, many will have an opportunity to participate
in a Christmas lunch. If you go very early, he will be there to thank county employees
for their service. He will be tied up about 11:40 a.m. tomorrow so if you get there after
that time, he will not see you, but do want to thank every one of the employees for their
hard work this year. He thinks we have accomplished many things. We have more to
accomplish and will always have more to accomplish, but thank you all for your hard
work and thank the staff as well. The people of Roanoke County are the greatest
people in the world, so we are very fortunate for that.
IN RE: WORK SESSIONS
1. Work session to discuss the Children's Services Act (CSA) with
the Board of Supervisors (Jessica Webb, Children's Services Act
Coordinator; Ben Jones, Family Services Supervisor; Christopher
R. Bever, Director, Management and Budget)
Mr. Bedrosian and Ms. Hooker were not in attendance. Mr. Bever
provided an overview and introduced the following from Roanoke County: Jessica
Webb, Ben Jones, Joyce Earl, Dan O’Donnell, Janet Belton and Cheryl Austin and from
Roanoke County Schools: Jessica McClung, Penny Hodge, Rebecca Eastwood, and
Ken Nicely. Mr. Bever provided a PowerPoint presentation, a copy of the presentation
is on file in the office of the Clerk. The Board was provided a recap of the Children’s
Services Act and advised teams are working to explore ideas for regional partnerships
and expanded in-house programs that could assist children more cost-effectively and
allow them to be more integrated into the community. The schools have been working
to beef up their special education staffing and are attempting to develop more
approaches to supporting students with conditions like autism. Since programs are
ongoing and change takes time, the County expects to see another increase in costs
next fiscal year.
Work session held from 4:06 p.m. to 5:13 p.m.
IN RE: CLOSED MEETING
At 3:46 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 5.
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434
Discussion concerning a prospective business or industry or the expansion of an
existing business or industry where no previous announcement has been made of the
business’ or industry’s interest in locating or expanding its facilities in the community.
The motion was seconded by Supervisor Peters and carried by the following recorded
vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, Peters, McNamara
NAYS: None
IN RE: CERTIFICATION RESOLUTION
At 5:35 p.m., Supervisor McNamara moved to return to open session and
adopt the certification resolution.
RESOLUTION 121917-4 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.
On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the resolution, seconded by
Supervisor Peters and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Peters, McNamara
NAYS: None
ABSENT: Supervisors Bedrosian, Hooker
December 19, 2017 435
IN RE: ADJOURNMENT
Chairman McNamara adjourned the meeting at 5:36 p.m.
I/Ibmitted by: Approved by:
411
._
'• •eborah C. . s Martha B. Hooker
Chief Depu C. F.
lerk to the Board Chairman
December 19, 2017
436
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