Hello, everyone! Happy 2021! I’m so grateful to all of you for sticking with me as I took a wonderful two weeks off from this newsletter. Although this holiday season looked very different from those past, and it was tinged with fear and sadness because of the huge losses we’ve sustained, it was still a blessing to take a step back from work and spend some time with my close family.
Thank you for that, and I hope you all likewise enjoyed some relaxation and renewal over the past couple weeks. Also, although I wasn’t around the Floyd Forum as often, I was still reporting throughout Christmas and New Year’s. I wrote about Virginia’s new food access fund and spoke with the Roanoke Co-Op about food insecurity in the region. I also covered the Dec. 30 press conference about Virginia’s slow rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines. I’ll have a more local view on that story for this newsletter on Saturday.
This week, Floyd’s local government bodies sprung back to life. The Board of Supervisors held its reorganization meeting Jan. 4 and the Town Council will meet tomorrow. If you have other local tips to share, please get in touch: aspinksdugan@gmail.com.
-Ashley
Supervisors struggle to agree on leadership for coming year
Floyd County’s Board of Supervisors kicked off 2021 the same way they do every new year: by electing new leadership. That seemingly simple task turned out to be the most time-consuming item on the Board’s agenda during its meeting Jan. 4.
Acting County Administrator Cindy Ryan began the meeting by accepting nominations for chairman. Little River District Supervisor Linda DeVito Kuchenbuch immediately nominated Locust Grove District representative Lauren Yoder. Yoder preceded current Chairman Joe Turman, who represents the Burks Fork district. However, Kuchenbuch’s nomination died for lack of a second.
Indian Valley Supervisor Justin Coleman nominated Turman for a second term, and that nomination was seconded by Courthouse District Supervisor Jerry Boothe. Yoder quickly followed up by nominating Boothe, and Kuchenbuch seconded. It was the beginning of a notable split throughout the meeting, at least in terms of leadership preferences, between Yoder and Kuchenbuch and the rest of the board.
Ryan told the Supervisors that the nominations would be considered in the order they were received, meaning they would vote first on Turman. Coleman, Boothe and Turman himself all voted ‘yes’ on that nomination, securing the necessary three-vote majority to install Turman as chairman. Both Yoder and Kuchenbuch voted no. The Board did not consider Boothe’s nomination.
Following that vote, Chairman Turman took control of the meeting and solicited nominations for vice-chair. All told, all five Supervisors were nominated for the position, and all five nominations failed to secure both a second and the three-vote majority necessary to be affirmed. The round-robin of nominations included Yoder and Kuchenbuch nominating each other. Both Supervisors obtained two votes; Kuchenbuch voted yes for herself (along with Yoder) and Yoder abstained, while getting votes from Kuchenbuch and Boothe.
Yoder also nominated Coleman, who declined the nomination, citing family responsibilities that would prevent him from being sufficiently committed to the job. During the second round of nominations, Boothe secured the necessary yes votes and was reinstated as vice-chair.
During the reorganization meeting, Supervisors also reviewed their various appointed positions. Everyone elected to maintain all their appointments but one. Yoder requested to be removed as the Board of Supervisors’ representative at the Chamber of Commerce, saying the Chamber meetings often conflict with his work schedule. “I don’t think I’m doing a very good job. I really would love to have the position, but I don’t think I’m doing it justice,” Yoder told the board. Kuchenbuch took his place.
State Sen. David Suetterlein also video-conferenced in to the meeting to speak with Floyd County’s elected officials. Suetterlein primarily discussed delays in administering COVID-19 vaccines. “The vaccine rollout is not going great in Virginia,” Suetterlein said. “In the things where it shouldn’t be political, I try to refrain from being too critical (of Gov. Northam),” he added, but pointed out that in neighboring states, vaccines are being administered much more quickly.
Suetterlein said when the Virginia General Assembly reconvenes on Jan. 13, legislators will discuss potential solutions. For his part, Suetterlein suggested relieving some requirements on medical professionals. For example, he said, some nurses and other healthcare workers throughout the state have credentials that have lapsed, which prevents them from administering a vaccine. “Really nothing has changed (recently) with how you give a vaccination,” he said, and argued that enlisting these people could beef up Virginia’s manpower and help vaccinate people more quickly.
And although earlier in the conversation Suetterlein had said vaccination “shouldn’t be political,” he also acknowledged the controversy surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine. (As explained in a previous edition, the vaccine is safe and effective.) He said in terms of his own constituents, those in Floyd County have the strongest opinions. Suetterlein was clear: Although he doesn’t agree that vaccinations should be mandatory, he said, “I think vaccinations are very good and beneficial…I want to encourage folks and try to make it as readily available as possible.”
Yoder also voiced concerns about speeding up vaccination efforts. “Weeks or a month can be life or death for somebody. It’s going to be life or death for somebody if we’re slow on rollout,” he said. Gov. Northam said during a Jan. 6 press conference that UVA models predict COVID-19 case counts will continue to increase through mid-February. The sooner folks can be vaccinated, the more virus surges can be tempered in the state.
Finally, Supervisors discussed approval of several change orders for construction of the new Collaboration & Career Development Center. The cost of the change orders totaled more than $160,000, and a major sticking point for the Board was whether that money could come out of the contingency fund built into the project budget. “If they want additional money (from the county), they’re going to have to explain it,” said Yoder.
According to documents submitted by project manager Erica Sunshine with Thompson & Litton, the first change order was necessitated by changes in both Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) regulations. In a change from what Supervisors were initially told, the construction road by the high school will not be a private road, but will belong to VDOT. That means it will require a gravel base, the documents said.
VDOT is also requiring two drains on the road, with 100% containment. Kuchenbuch questioned why architects on the project did not meet with VDOT before submitting their bid, to ensure all regulations were being met. She also pointed out that she had raised the issue of the the fence around the sediment pond at prior meetings. The fence was included in the first change order.
DEQ is requiring “additional soil stabilization and a fence around sediment pond. No water will be in the pond, it is only for drainage,” the document said. The fence is required because the pond is on school property.
The second change order described “unsuitable soil in (the) new parking lot, as it is too soft at the bottom of the hill. It requires a layer of gravel, material, another layer of gravel.” Kuchenbuch objected especially to this second request. “Knowing what that road does in the rain, how all of the sudden is this something that should be known?” That is to say, Kuchenbuch wondered why the project manager did not anticipate issues with the soil.
There was a consensus among the Supervisors to invite Superintendent of Schools Dr. John Wheeler to explain the change orders in more detail at the Board’s next meeting on Jan. 12.
County Attorney Steve Durbin also spent part of the reorganization meeting conducting a Conflicts of Interest training for the Supervisors. The Board of Supervisors next meets on Tuesday, Jan. 12 at 8:30 a.m.