Accomack County Supervisors Meeting

A wide array of topics were discussed at the Accomack County Board of Supervisors meeting Wednesday night.

The application for the extension of the implementation of the new Storm Water program until July 2014 was approved.

Chris Isdell of Virginia Department of Transportation tried to explain how the state could take over road maintenance of a private road. The bottom line came down to the state would only pay five percent of the actual construction cost. No funds being available for easement change or development.

Jack Gray led the longest discussion of the night about why after so many years of efforts the HVAC system in the administration building just didn't work correctly. The contractor explained that there were twenty thermostats in the building with ten different zones and with different people in different offices in the same zone being the biggest problem. He said he had quoted a complete overhaul of the system and it had been rejected due to cost. It was then agreed to have a separate meeting on this subject and not hold up tonight agenda.

Seven people spoke supporting the new library stating their reasons, from history of the shore to child development. The majority of the speakers were from Onancock but they ranged from Parksley to Melfa. No mention of the $8 million dollar price tag or location was made.

County audit report was made by David Foley CPA from the firm of Robinson, Farner, Cox Associates giving the county the highest possible rating. He did go on to say he had reached out to both of the Constitutional officers in the Treasurer's office and the Commissioner's office offering professional guidance on how they might rectify the deficiencies noted in their respective areas.

Stuart Hall Public Works Director spoke to the Board about the $376,000 that the county had received for Sandy clean up that requires $33,583 of local matching funds. A motion was made to take these matching dollars from the contingency fund and move forward.

County Sheriff Mr. Todd Godwin was briefly at the meeting to request a burning ban to prevent over working of the already stressed fire departments up and down the county. Wanda Thornton explained that she always supported request from the Sheriff's Department but in this case she could not because of all the trees down on Chincoteague and some being infested with the Pine bark beetle and the only way to kill them was to burn the tree. A motion was made and passed exempting the Island from the burn ban.

A $142,000 grant has been given to the County from the Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA) to do a joint land use study with the Navy. The Board approved the rewarding of this grant to Clark Nexsen & Ecology and Environment Incorporation to provide the consulting services for this study.

County manager Steve Miner suggested a work session with the Citizens for a new library and a separate work session with EDA and the EMS group.

Mark Taylor county attorney presented his letter to the supervisors on different ways to appoint or elect school boards.
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