Floyd County Supervisors Tuesday elected first-term the Courthouse District's Case Clinger as the board's new chairman, replacing former Locust Grove representative David Ingram, who lost in last year's GOP caucuses.
Little River Supervisor Virgel Allen becomes the board's new vice chairman, replacing Fred Gerald of Indian Valley. Gerald became vice chairman two years ago after courthouse supervisor Jerry Boothe stepped down.
Both Clinger and Allen won by 4-1 votes with each abstaining from voting for themselves.
The action came as two new members -- Lauren Yoder of Locust Grove and Joe Turman of Burks Fork -- began their first terms on the five-member board. Yoder defeated Ingram in the GOP caucus last year, and Turman replaced Bill Gardner, who stepped down after one term.
The new board is all Republican with only Gerald having served more than one term. Allen won re-election to a second term last November. Clinger, the new chairman, is halfway through his first term.
Clinger wasted no time putting his mark on the new board, suggesting the board go to two meetings a month with the second meeting held at night to better serve citizens who work during the day and might want to attend board meetings.
Gerald said the board tried evening meetings in the past and found it did not increase citizen participation, but a series of hot button issues that included tax increases, wind turbines and the proposed comprehensive plan have resulted in longer public comment periods in the past year.
After a short discussion, the board voted unanimously to meet on the second and fourth Tuesdays each month with the second Tuesday meeting beginning at 8:30 a.m. and fourth Tuesday meeting starting at 7 p.m.
In another change, also suggested by new chairman Clinger, the board modified its tie-breaker vote rules to allow reconsideration of a tie vote if all five members of the board are not present.
In the past, a tie vote meant defeat for a proposal if a board member was absent from the meeting. In most cases of a tie vote, the chairman breaks the tie but 2-2 votes have resulted in defeat of measures if only four members of the board were present to vote.
Under the new rule, a tie vote when only four members are present sends the measure to the next meeting for reconsideration. If all five members are present and one abstains and the vote is a tie, the measure is defeated.
Board members got a preview of some of the challenges facing them as Commonwealth's Attorney Stephanie Shortt asked the board for extra funds to cover the cost of a part-time assistant with capital murder case experience to help her with an upcoming murder trial.
Last month, Shortt told the board she had asked the Virginia Compensation Board for funds to pay for the assistant, but this month said the compensation board was not willing to pay for a prosecutor with the experience she needed.
Shortt currently has a part-time assistant -- Christiansburg attorney David Rhodes -- to help with the increasing case load. Supervisors approved extra money for Rhodes last year.
Shortt stated her office may need a full-time assistant prosecutor in the near future.
Clinger asked Shortt for a month to review the request before taking action. The board may also send a representative with Shortt to ask the compensation board to reconsider the request, and Sheriff Shannon Zeman offered to also accompany and support the prosecutor at such a meeting.
The board also accepted an offer from new school superintendent Dr. Kevin Harris to meet jointly with the county school board to discuss budget matters and other issues facing county government.
Harris said he wanted to "improve communication" between the school board and county government.
The board also heard from wind turbine advocate Frank Rudisill of Indian Valley who spoke in opposition to a proposed ordinance to effectively ban ridgeline development by prohibiting structures that rise more than 40 feet above the tops of ridges.
The new board faces a public hearing on the ordinance at 7 p.m. on Jan. 31 at the Floyd County High School auditorium. The wind turbine debate, sparked by proposals for wind generator farms with large turbines that rise up to 490 feet above a ridgeline on Wills Ridge and other areas, has brought dozens of county citizens to recent board meetings to argue for and against the windmills.
Rudisill said he has put together a cooperative of landowners with 2700 acres along Alum Ridge for farms and warned the board it would be better to allow development of the generators and enjoy the revenue they bring in than to spend taxpayer money fighting the issue in court.
In other reorganization action, the board reappointed Gerald as the board's representative on the Floyd County Planning Commission and named administrator Dan Campbell to represent the county on New River Valley Planning District Commission.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement