P.E. Supervisors Disagree Strongly on First Decision Made in 2014

By Wilkie Chaffin, Southside Messenger Staff

A story in the December 12, 2013 issue of The Southside Messenger discussed how the November 5 election of two new Prince Edward supervisors might affect future decisions of the Board, at least in terms of how taxpayer money is spent. Prior to the election of new supervisors for 2014, there was typically a coalition of four or five supervisors who supported making major investments of county money in support of economic development projects. Examples in the last few years include the attempt to develop a county water system and a major hotel and conference center south of Farmville. Neither of these projects has proven successful. The coalition that supported these projects consisted of Board Chairman William Fore, Howard Simpson, Bobby Jones, Charles McKay, and sometimes Don Gantt. Three supervisors, Pete Campbell, Pattie Cooper-Jones and Jim Wilck tended to be more economically conservative in their votes. Public statements by new Buffalo Supervisor Bob Timmons have suggested that he may also tend to be conservative in financial matters. The first decision for Supervisors for 2014 was the choice of a new Board of Supervisors’ chairperson at the January 14, 2014 Board meeting. There was far from a consensus on this question, with results which may forecast supervisor coalitions in some matters in the future.

Supervisor Jim Wilck nominated Pattie Cooper-Jones for Board Chair, while Bobby Jones nominated Vice Chairman Howard Simpson. Supervisors Campbell, Cooper-Jones, Timmons and Wilck voted for Cooper-Jones, while McKay, Simpson, Townsend and Jones voted for Simpson. Since this was a tie vote, no one was elected. In a few situations in the past when there was a tie vote for an election, supervisors have tossed a coin to settle the question. However, Supervisor Jim Wilck told the Board that this could not be done here since it is not provided for under standard rules of parliamentary procedure nor by the Bylaws [Rules] for the Board. At this point, County Attorney James Ennis was asked for a ruling on this issue, which he could not give without referring to Robert’s Rules of Order on parliamentary procedures. Finally, Mr. Ennis returned to the meeting with information that Robert’s Rules of Order could be suspended with a two-thirds vote and then the Board would have more options to break the tie vote for chairman. Before this issue was finally settled, there had been three tie votes, a suspension of Robert’s Rules of Order and the tossing of a coin to choose the new Board Chairman. Mr. Simpson won the toss and is the new Chairman of the Prince Edward Board of Supervisors. It took 45 minutes for this process to be accomplished.

At the end of this process when Mr. Simpson took over his role as chairman, he criticized Board members for their role in this process. In particular, he said he wanted to apologize to everybody for what had just happened. He said people were always asking him why we can’t get industries to come to the County. He said, “Stuff like this [referring to how the election took place] is a whole lot of the reason.” However, newly elected Supervisor Robert Timmons from the Buffalo District said he disagreed with Mr. Simpson. He said that the Board has a right to select the Chair without being criticized. The vote for Vice Chairman was also a tie with the same four supervisors who voted for Ms. Cooper-Jones for Chair voting for her for Vice Chair and Supervisors McKay, Simpson, Townsend and Bobby Jones voting for Bobby Jones. Pattie Cooper-Jones was chosen as Vice Chair by a coin toss over Bobby Jones.

After election of officers and adoptions of Board procedures, meeting times, etc., two citizens responded to what had just taken place. Kenneth Jackson said that the entire

Board needs to work together and mentioned how this might impact the county. Cornell Walker questioned whether the Board should have used coin tosses, for the second time in a year, to make major decisions. [He was referring to the 2013 selection of a School Board member.] He said if supervisors cannot work together, what chance do citizens have? He said citizens would be talking about this meeting for a long time.

Supervisors held four public hearings at the January 14 meeting. Two related to requests for Special Use Permits to construct cell towers. One would be near 551 West Patrick Henry Highway (U.S. 360) near Simplicity and the other on the Patrick Henry Highway in Meherrin adjacent to the western boundary of the S.B. Cox Concrete Plant. The first tower would be on property owned by former Prince Edward County Administrator Mildred Hampton, and the second tower would be on property owned by David C. and Caraletta Orton. Both these Special Use Permits were approved. A third public hearing was a request by Patricia Cheatham to operate a convenience store and retail sales at 18 County Shop Road. One citizen who lived near this parcel spoke against approval of the request in its existing form. After considerable discussion, Supervisors approved the Special Use Permit request. Finally, supervisors amended the County Zoning Ordinance to require that antenna space be provided on communication towers in Prince Edward County for location of county emergency services communications equipment. There would not be any compensation to the owners of the towers. Supervisors passed this Zoning Ordinance change.

The Board of Supervisors reappointed Supervisors Campbell and Wilck to the Granite Falls Community Development Authority (CDA), along with newly elected supervisors Timmons and Townsend. The Granite Falls CDA was set up in 2009 to help coordinate the development of the proposed Granite Falls Hotel and Conference Center. Supervisors said they would appoint five citizens to this committee, and asked for volunteers willing to serve. Then, at the January, 2010 Board meeting, Board Chairman William Fore said that he thought the learning curve would be too great for citizens to serve on the Authority at that time. Supervisors appointed all eight of themselves to the Authority at that meeting. Four years later, there are still no citizens on the Authority. Supervisors appointed bank executive LeAnne Emert to the Piedmont Senior Resources Area Agency on Aging. They appointed Supervisor Pete Campbell to the Piedmont Alcohol Safety Action Program (ASAP).

Supervisors approved $6,800 of additional funding for each of the seven fire departments serving Prince Edward County, as well as a total of $18,000 of additional funds for the three rescue squads serving Prince Edward and the Prince Edward Firefighters Association. Supervisors approved a resolution opposing a change in Virginia law to allow hunting on Sunday. Although there are a few restrictions in the proposed law, indications are that the 2014 General Assembly will pass the Sunday Hunting bill. Supervisors approved two actions related to law enforcement. They agreed to apply for a grant from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services to help support a School Resources Officer. The locality can apply to renew the grant in the second through fourth years. If all four years were approved, then the grant would provide $33,804 in the first year, $28,785 in the second year, $21,256 in the third year and $8,708 in the fourth year toward the $50,190 total yearly cost of the position. The county would also need to provide uniforms, equipment, and a vehicle (probably a surplus vehicle from the Sheriff’s Office]. Supervisors also agreed to authorize the Sheriff to continue the At-Will Overtime Program. The program more than paid for itself during the trial period, as well as decreased speeding and increased safety on County roads.