After having the chance to mull it over for two weeks, Supervisor Donald Weaver stated that the team’s start-up price tag of just under $15,000 was too much money to pull out of the Board contingency fund. He preferred instead to tackle the issue during next year’s budget season so that, if approved, the start-up cost could be built into the parks and rec budget.
Also having second thoughts, Supervisor Joe Chesser echoed Weaver’s preference for postponing the matter until next year’s budget talks, while Supervisor Bob Ullenbruch reiterated his initial qualms about setting precedent for other would-be teams.
Countering the cautious tone, Chairman Shaun Kenney spoke in favor of the team, recognizing the current “gap” for county seventh graders caused by school restructuring, and claiming that “most localities do pick up the tab for these teams.” As for setting precedent, Kenney asserted that this “public-private partnership” is just the sort of precedent he would like to set, in which a volunteer-driven organization needs help to get off the ground, but then functions with a large degree of independence.
Supervisor Mozell Booker agreed, stating that the idea of helping programs “get on their feet” so they can be fully or mostly self-sustaining is, to her, “what we’re all about as the Board of Supervisors.”
With three of five supervisors feeling wary, the team’s establishment was suddenly in jeopardy. When Kenney called for a vote, however, the motion passed 3-2, with Kenney, Booker, and Chesser supporting.
That decided, the Board turned its attention to the issue of code compliance. As Planning Director Allyson Finchum explained after the meeting, her office is responsible for monitoring code compliance, including catching and correcting violations. “Code compliance” is a broad topic that covers a range of issues, including lists of conditions for businesses operating under special use permits, rules for the appearance of county residences, and signage. As Fluvanna grows, the 20 hours a week currently worked by the code compliance officer is simply no longer sufficient to keep up with the workload.
The Board hopes to ameliorate this situation by increasing the number of hours worked by the code compliance officer, either to 28 hours a week or to a full 40 hours on a one-year trial basis. A decision is expected at the July 3 meeting.
In other matters:
• The Board heard an update on the status of the park and ride area near Food Lion by Lake Monticello. The county has received the draft agreement back from the owner of the property, who agreed to provide 15 spaces for park and ride purposes as long as the county supplies trash receptacles and empties them twice a week.
• The Board bid a fond farewell to Pat Groot, grants administrator for Fluvanna County for 13 years. Starting July 1, Groot will work for the whole region as grants writer/administrator with the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. Marvin Moss, president of both the Fluvanna Historical Society and Fluvanna Heritage Trail Foundation, presented Groot with two framed certificates and stated, “It’s hard to imagine what Fluvanna County would be like today without [Groot’s] very careful and innovative approach” to bringing grant money to the county.
