Regular Meeting – August 9, 2017

Regular Meeting, Wednesday, August 9, 2017, 7:00 p.m. Government Center, Verona, VA.

PRESENT: Tracy C. Pyles, Jr., Chairman
Terry Lee Kelley, Jr., Vice-Chairman
Marshall W. Pattie
Carolyn S. Bragg
Gerald W. Garber
Wendell L. Coleman
Michael L. Shull
Leslie Tate, Planner
Timmy Fitzgerald, County Administrator
Jennifer M. Whetzel, Deputy County Administrator
James Benkahla, County Attorney
Angie Michael, Executive Assistant

VIRGINIA: At a regular meeting of the Augusta County Board of Supervisors held on Wednesday, August 9, 2017, at 7:00 p.m., at the Government Center, Verona, Virginia, and in the 242nd year of the Commonwealth….

Chairman Pyles welcomed the citizens present.

The Board of Supervisors led us with the Pledge of Allegiance Terry Kelley, Supervisor for the Beverley Manor District, delivered invocation.

MATTERS TO BE PRESENTED BY THE PUBLIC

Ray Cline of 168 Bluebird Lane in the Pastures District, stated that he would like for the Board to reconsider the closing of Company 10. Mr. Cline was with the Augusta County Fire Department for 48 years and 22 years of that he was paid and he is currently still volunteering. One of the biggest concerns with closing Company 10 is there are only four Fire Departments to cover that area. Company 10 is the busiest in the County. 700-1200 calls will need to be covered. It’s not logical to miss calls to cover Verona. Out of 90 calls, 30 of those were for City residents, 30 were for County residents and 30 were for outside tourists. 60% of Company 10’s calls are interstate and City of Staunton calls. County residents use this area just as much. It is our job to serve and protect lives no matter where they are from. Mr. Cline would like for the County and neighbors to work better together to help the tax payers and not be a burden to the tax payers. Are you listening to the residents?

David Lowery is not a resident of Augusta County or the City of Staunton. He handed out to the Board a copy of his recent Real Estate tax bill. No one should expect additional services without prices going up. He understands that money is the reason for the closing of Company 10. Augusta County has 3 times more residents than Culpeper County. Mr. Lowery requests for the Board to table this decision. Keep Company 10 open.

Ann Lynch of 404 Norwood Road Staunton, is on the Board of Directors for Verona Fire Department and is a volunteer for Walkers Creek Fire Department. Ms. Lynch is here today for one reason-passion. Passion about caring for citizens. The County needs to be more passionate on making the right decision. We have said there are no issues with discussing additional staff at Verona, but the current contract will need to be evaluated.

The Fire Department wants to do what’s best for the citizens. One of her main concerns is that Staunton Augusta Rescue has not been brought into the conversation. Before bringing an ambulance into Verona, talk to them. Ms. Lynch asks the Board to please table the Strategic Plan and issues for at least six months and take the time to discuss it with everyone.

Jason Shultz of 33 Bittersweet Lane, Staunton, stated that he the Chief of Middlebrook Fire Department. There has been a lot of media attention due to the closing of Company 10. Mr. Shultz voiced concerns with removal of specialized equipment. Most importantly, his concern is the removal of the three career staff at Middlebrook. Middlebrook assists with Raphine and Walkers Creek. They are a remote location that’s hard to serve. The volunteers are the hardest working people he knows. If the decision is made to proceed, this will harm the response time in southern Augusta County. Many volunteers work full time. Middlebrook was fortunate to be granted career staff a few years ago. Not one person from the Board has asked for input on this plan. Mr. Shultz is thankful for Mr. Shull’s input and support. In reviewing minutes from a previous meeting, there was not an official vote on Middlebrook. Be more open to input when contacting and planning. Mr. Shultz asked the Board to consider the ramifications in closing Company 10. Middlebrook needs their career staff.

Frank Dull of 2975 Middlebrook Road, stated that he was with Company 3. He works full time and family is important. Mr. Pyles talks about numbers and puts charts up on a screen, but people’s faces need to mean something too. The 576 tax payers in Middlebrook deserve protection just as Verona residents do. The response for Middlebrook will increase by five minutes. Five minutes can mean life or death in some situations. We need the career staff during the day. Volunteers can’t run calls quickly when they work full time jobs.

Misty Walker of Verona, stated that she is the President of Verona Volunteer Fire Department. Verona Fire Department submitted a request for placement of an ambulance. Prior to the request there were talks of closing Company 10. The membership voted and declined any additional staff or apparatus. During a meeting they were told they have two choices. They feel they were cornered and bullied so they reluctantly agreed to the additional staff and apparatus. The excuses have rapidly spun out of control. The last thing was that Company 10 was staying open and Staunton would be equally dividing the cost. Career staff drops calls as well as volunteers. Mr. Pyles continuously refers to a spreadsheet from 2012. Ms. Walker would be more than happy to provide him with accurate numbers. Volunteers are vital and critical to saving tax payers money. Why has no one reached out to the membership in Verona until after we requested an ambulance? Augusta County has a trend to devalue and criticize. Is the Board aware of how much money it will take to renovate Verona? The discussion has gone from adding to the building, adding trailers or a new building on the vacant lot.

Bribery has been going on with equipment. Augusta County Fire and Rescue, Inc. was created for Preston Yancey Fire Department. Ms. Walker disagrees that the dynamics have changed. We teach to take a stand against bullying. Think hard about ramifications of closing Company 10. Closing of Company 10 will have a more negative impact than a positive one. Work with everyone, don’t bully.

Patrick Shipe of 180 Plum Draft Road, stated that he has expressed concerns in previous meetings regarding the Fire and Rescue Plan. Dropped calls seem to be an ongoing conversation among the Board and fire stations, but dropped call number accuracy needs to be questioned. If an agency is out on a call and another call is put in they can’t do both at once. Mr. Shipe would like for the Board to reconsider the closing of Company 10 and gather data to help in making the decision. According to the Roberts Rule of Order, a motion can only come from a Board member who voted yes to close Company 10. The second to the motion can come from any Board member. Put trust in County staff to develop a cost effective plan. In the end, if the decision is still to close Company 10 everyone involved would know that the issue had been discussed fully.

Ann Shultz of 84 Shover Lane, voiced concerns regarding pulling paid career staff from Middlebrook Fire Department and also with the decision to close Company 10. Both situations pose great danger for citizens. Travel times for secondary roads to primary roads need to be considered when decisions are made. Also, insurance rates will increase due to lack of coverage. Ms. Shultz is not opposed to a small tax increase to accommodate for increased costs. For many years property in Augusta County was not at market value. A penny increase would make a huge impact on the budget, but not a huge impact on the tax payers. Company 10 may be in the City of Staunton now, but it was in Augusta County when it was built. It is central to the entire County and we need the centralization.

Barry Lotts of 70 Guthrie Road, stated that he would like to point out two different things.

He is the Chief of Riverheads Volunteer Fire Department and is concerned about the closing of Company 10. Riverheads Fire Department has had 12 deaths and Squad 10 has been to every one of them. If Squad 10 is taken to Verona it is 15 more minutes from Middlebrook, Stuarts Draft, Riverheads and the Swoope area. At its current location it is convenient to the interstate for quick response. The smaller stations cannot afford the equipment that is on Squad 10 so it needs to be readily available and centrally located.

There is a solution if the closing of Company 10 is necessary. Lease the building to the City of Staunton for $0, let Staunton staff it with their personnel. The County leaves Company 10 and the City of Staunton runs County calls from that station. That would provide the help needed from that area of the County and the equipment needed would be available.

Kristy McComas of 1326 Parkersburg Turnpike, stated that she has volunteered with EMS Staunton, Augusta and Churchville for 18 years. She was the first LOS provider medic West, North West and South of the City of Staunton. She has been involved in every call from Swoope to Churchville to Mount Solon to Bridgewater to Deerfield to Highland County to Craigsville, Middlebrook, Walkers Creek and some into Rockbridge County for years. This was done until three years ago when she physically and mentally got burnt out. Ms. McComas witnessed a lot of firsts for Augusta County Fire and Rescue and they worked beautifully. The volunteers in the County are the most dedicated people you will ever meet. Helping their neighbor is the one thing they all care about. That’s what Fire and Rescue does. That’s why they are there. There is a Chief of an entire Fire Department for the County. He is in charge of all of the volunteers and paid career staff.

He has been in the system for many years before he came into administration. Let the man do his job. Let the Captains and Lieutenants, volunteer boards and providers do their job. The Board needs to do what they are supposed to do, give them what they need. Give it through a grant or tax. It doesn’t matter where it comes from. Don’t worry about the day to day operations. Let the Chief take care of the daily operations. The Board has the job to see that needs are taken care of. The Law requires the Board to provide. Fund it to the level that makes it work.

Steve Morris of 203 Hotchkiss Road, stated that lives, property and public safety should always be number one for EMS and Law Enforcement. When 911 is called no matter what time of day or night, the caller needs help and expects someone to respond. If the County and the City cannot work out mutual aid it will be devastating for the Western part of the County.

Christine May of 2186 Spring Hill Road, stated that she appreciates the arguments that are being made by Fire and Rescue staff. She is just a mom, but knows firsthand that response time matters. She is thankful to Company 10 and the volunteers of Verona who have come to their house. Ms. May is in support of community efforts to save Company 10. Company 10’s services make everyone safer and she urges the Board to truly act as a representative of the people that they were elected to serve. The backlash from the previous vote has been tremendous. Stop searching for a multitude of ways to close Company 10 and find the one way to make it work. The County needs Company 10 and the Board needs to work with the firefighters and listen to their needs. Most importantly, the response times needs to stay low to so homes and families stay safe.

Mark Daugherty of 56 Fairfield Court, stated that he thanks the Augusta County Fire Department for their hard work and thanked the remarkable volunteers for the 5,000 to 10,000 hours or more of volunteer service given each month in Augusta County. He urges the Board of Supervisors to keep Company 10 open so response times can be protected for much of the County. Mr. Daugherty made a suggestion that has the potential to save money, save lives and improve response time. Next time a capital equipment purchase is made, instead of purchasing a $1 million fire truck, purchase four or five SUV’s that would be considered a light fire truck. They could carry some water, medical and fire suppression equipment and they could patrol the County around similar to a Sheriff patrol car. This would have the potential to improve response times and a lighter fire truck is more maneuverable. Mr. Daugherty again thanked the volunteers and urges the Board to keep Company 10 open and explore ideas to keep costs down.

FIRE AND RESCUE STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATE

Carson Holloway, Fire Chief, stated that he would like to focus on the positive that has happened over the last 17 years. 2000 was the year that the first planning studies were done in Augusta County. Since then there have been three follow up studies completed.

Augusta County is a large county with 17 in County stations, approximately 75,000 citizens and 970 square miles. It is a challenge to have fire and rescue available within five minutes from everyone within the County. The 2000 study was a comprehensive study that looked at the needs of Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County. Total staff at Augusta County at that time was 18 with 763 volunteers. 100 hours or 10% of calls are what makes a volunteer active. Company 10 was the only county owned and maintained fire station with career staff. In 2001-2002 staff grew to 21. At that time Stuarts Draft was one of the busiest stations in the County. 2003-2004 two additional stations came forward and asked for additional staff for daylight hours. In 2005 staff increased to 33.

Volunteerism remained about the same and Verona requested career daylight staff.

Specific directions were given in the 2005 study. This study was just on Augusta County.

Over a five year time span there was a significant increase. 2006 paid career staff increased to 38. Career staff is now in 7 county stations. 2007 Middlebrook requested career staffing for during the daylight shift, the county put together a burn building or training ground and grant money helped to fund these additions along with tax dollars.

Career staff remained at 44 in 2008. At that time Grottoes Rescue ran into volunteer issues. Rockingham County stepped in and helped out when needs arose. Augusta County offered two floaters to be stationed in the Grottoes Fire Department, which would help with personnel issues. In 2009 career staff moved to 47 and Churchville requested career staff to be placed in their department. In 2010 career staff was at 49 with 917 volunteers and the County purchased a fire engine to replace the old one. 2011 career moved forward with an additional 51 people hired. During 2011 Riverheads was built by the County and fully operated by volunteers. There was an agreement signed with Staunton-Augusta Rescue and an EMS study was conducted. The Virginia Department of fire programs did a study and looked at all fire and rescue needs and made suggestions to help in the future. By 2012, career staff grew to 59, Preston L Yancey disbanded and they worked as a 501c3. Not every community is apples to apples. Some are farming communities and offer strong volunteers, but when summer comes around volunteer hours drop due to farming demands. Augusta County also assumed EMS transport for Preston Yancey and Riverheads. Staunton-Augusta and Waynesboro found themselves needing more people and money was requested to maintain the career staff and recruitment retention was discussed. Recruitment efforts have continued. Career staff comes from volunteers. In 2013 career went up to 80. An application for a SAFR grant was submitted. The grant was awarded and resources were deployed. Mount Solon was given additional daylight staff and there was a partnership formed with Weyers Cave Fire Department. With this partnership, Rescue 26 was placed there. Augusta County worked with the surrounding areas to make the partnership happen. Stuarts Draft Fire transferred to a fire company only. By 2014 staff had grown to 81 and an EMS Paramedic or EMS Supervisor was added. The first Fire Academy class was held. In 2015 staff grew to 86 and volunteerism dropped slightly. Augusta County added an additional EMS Supervisor and worked with Wintergreen Fire Department on equipment. Finally, in 2016 career staff rose to 105. Currently career staff is still at 105 with a total of 813 volunteers. The strategic plan has been revisited numerous times. We have come a long way since 2000 with career staff growing from 18 to 105. The Fire and Rescue budget has grown drastically. We are proud of what career and volunteers have done and continue to do in Augusta County.

Mr. Pyles made the following statement:

In January of this year I was elected Chairman and Mr. Kelley was elected Vice Chairman.

By ordinance to a degree and by a standing, we became the Emergency Services Committee for this Board. The tradition is the Chairman and the Vice Chairman. We have this idea of rotating people instead of leaving one person in place and that allows someone who is just coming on, as Vice Chairman, a year to get to know these things and to get involved. It’s really not enough time. With Mr. Kelley, it was enough time. Mr. Kelley had 20 plus years of working in Fire and Rescue being a Chief and top provider for his organization. I come with over 20 years of experience working with these budgets and working with a number of volunteers. I have Craigsville Fire and Rescue, Deerfield Fire and Rescue, Churchville Fire and Rescue and Swoope. Over the years, most of them had issues at one time or another and we worked through them. We put out 100’s of 1000’s of dollars in addition to the operating cost. We’ve put a lot of money and spent a lot of money on capital. There was a picture on the screen of three rescue units and each one of those was over $200,000. You saw where we did the fire training building which was $1 million. That started with a joint grant with Staunton. We got the grant from the State and then Staunton said they didn’t want to participate. We had the choice of dropping out or picking up their slack. The fire people in particular, Chief Martin of Craigsville, said we’ve been promising that for years. It’s something our volunteers need. We just bought a second ladder truck of over $1 million. We continue to buy and help folks come up with stuff. Fire and Rescue is an expensive business. It’s expensive in career costs, operating costs and time given by volunteers. No one has tried to say that it isn’t an important part of what we do. I made points nearly every time I have spoken, what do volunteers do for us? There are some that are near perfect. Last year, Swoope had no missed calls and only one the year before that. Over the last seven years, Craigsville has only had 11 missed calls out of over 3,000 calls. These are all volunteer stations. Their value can’t be stated in the value they give to the public. In terms of what it costs us, there is nothing better than that. It’s about $150 a call for us. Company 10 cost $1,400 a call just for Augusta County calls. $150 would be much better than $1,400 per call. When you don’t miss a call you are there. The number one ability for Fire and Rescue is availability. If you’re not there and don’t answer the calls, it messes up the whole system. Other people have to back fill and then other agencies are left with voids. Then someone else from further away has to come and there is time lost. The one thing I wanted to address attach this year was lowering our no responses. Our goal is to be 2%. We would like for everyone to be below 5%. The real goal is to be no misses except when you’re on another call. That would truly be our goal. As we went through this, we looked at that. I look at numbers. How could I be very effective if I didn’t look at numbers? The numbers give me a starting point. It doesn’t mean they are the final answer. I took the information that we had and ask for it in other ways. I wanted to know how many households an area covers. I think its useful information. I got every single no response for every agency in this past year. I went through them. Which ones were on another call and which ones simply didn’t answer. You look at it and ask how I can make things work. That’s my job.

Funding; we have gone from approximately $1 million to a little over $10 million in the budget. That’s a lot of money. It’s a fourth of what we take in Real Estate and we never ask for a tax increase to do it. We are a fortunate County. One of the things people don’t recognize is our tax rate helps us get money. It doesn’t cost us money. When businesses are looking for a place to locate that’s one of the key factors. I had our Economic Development person look at three companies of $5 million capital, $5 million machinery and tools in three localities; Augusta County, Staunton and Rockingham. We were $490,000 for ten years. Staunton was $756,000 for ten years. Rockingham was $950,000 for ten years. If you are a corporate CEO and looking for a place to go, would you go to a place that’s 50% higher or double? We try to make this an attractive place to bring in manufacturing. The warehousing places and distribution centers are worthwhile, but it’s the plants that come in with expensive equipment that need skilled workers and get production out. They are the ones that bring the better jobs for our people. We continually have announcements of new business coming to Augusta County. Our people on average have better homes, more money and invest in better cars. When we have an increase, if we got the same amount of money as Staunton per person our tax rate would $0.72. Our $0.58 is doing the job and until we don’t have enough money to do something we should stick with it. We had a question about a fire tax. Right now 14.5% of Real Estate tax goes to Fire and Rescue. If we keep it at that rate, the money will keep growing. I research other localities and there taxes. I researched Cherry Hill, NJ. They have a County property tax, land use tax, the town has a tax, library tax, and a fire tax.

When it’s all said and done their tax rate is $4.92 instead of our $0.58. When you pick those things out, we could put $0.02 towards Fire and Rescue, but will we take something from the other side away? That’s what they did with lottery funding. They said it would be designated to the schools. We didn’t get any more money, they just cut it someplace else.

Our job is to look at everything as a whole and I think that’s what makes us better. By being able to weigh the demands of every place. We have been able to do these things for Fire and Rescue even during the big recession and following that up when our taxes were $0.48, $0.51 and $0.56. We kept invested in Fire and Rescue and we will keep investing in Fire and Rescue. We still have a responsibility to see that everybody does their job. You can’t have people not living up to the standards that they have for themselves. We have to work together. We had a plan that was given to us by staff. It was a plan based on long time master plans that go all the way back to 2000. We looked at it and asked what we needed to do. Whatever we did we had to fit it into the budget we had and not hire anymore. We have 105 career staff and were we ready to add more?

We weren’t at that time within the budget that we had. We went through the plan and Company 10 was recommended for closure. After the vote, it was a big issue to work with Staunton. We had originally offered to Staunton to do it on a pay per call. That was going to cost them $233,000 per year. Staunton didn’t want to discuss then. They wanted to discuss it separately. We asked for another meeting to talk solely on Fire and Rescue.

We asked them what they thought. They had nothing to say and asked if we had another proposal. We didn’t have another proposal. It was a very short meeting. I went back later and made another proposal to them. That proposal was similar to what Mr. Lotts suggested. We asked them about placing and engine and two people around the clock at Company 10. They would have the use of the building and the overhead would be covered by us. They thought we would manipulate the billing that came from what we put into our budgets. I went to them the third time and said if you let us do your EOC for you we could have enough savings to offset our costs. We have heard nothing from them.

There is a lot of rumor out there. A lot of things spoken tonight are rumors. I think what you will see is they don’t want that fire station. The plan is to build a fine new fire, police department, and administration building out at Western State property. The cost to work with us is much cheaper than anything they could do and it’s still not the best it could be for us, but we were willing to do that. When we talk about the 406 calls that are run for Staunton out of 1100 calls, we think we should get some compensation. Staunton says no. We placed two people at Grottoes Fire Department because we were running too many of their calls. We pay Raphine $44,000 to run into our area. We try to work with people. Waynesboro sends $40,000 to Waynesboro First Aid crew. We try to work with all of neighbors, but this is big deal. One thing that could be said is don’t run the Staunton calls. Staff said we can’t do that. We save lives. If there is a call at Wal-Mart we can’t not go up there. So it was thrown out. We have been left with either keep doing what we are doing and know that it is only going to get worse. All of the construction taking place on Richmond Road is for a lot more commerce which means a lot more calls. One thing to point out is we were never going to get rid of people. We were going to disperse them where we had other things that weren’t doing as well as we would like. We long ago said we weren’t going to pull people from Middlebrook. That was part of the plan that came up and it didn’t take long for people to say that’s not a good idea. We didn’t talk to Middlebrook because we weren’t going to do anything. I told two officers from Middlebrook that we weren’t pulling their career staff. One of the reason in the beginning for thinking about pulling their career was because when they got the career staff to begin with we didn’t have the Riverheads station at that time. Now we have a station that the County built and the staff was there so that was one of the reasons this came into play. In the beginning Swoope wasn’t a strong station and now they are one of our strongest. The question of being loyal certainly speaks to me. Deerfield is loyal as they are. They have six people at their station and they do fire and rescue, but the distance is important for us.

It’s the same thing for Craigsville. We have people there 24/7 and everybody that we have placed has been at the request of the volunteers. The bottom line, we are not going to close Middlebrook or pull the career people from there. We did talk about getting more use out of the people that are placed there. Those guys are trained in fire and EMS. It would be helpful to have a rescue unit in Middlebrook so that calls could be made to that area. We look at Verona as a growth area. Verona has development and industry growing and people are coming to do business here all the time. It’s growing. We need a rescue station here in Verona. Deerfield, Craigsville, Mount Solon, Weyers Cave, New Hope, Grottoes, and Preston Yancey all have rescue station. We have rescue stations everywhere except one of our main areas. We had a few calls not too long ago that we didn’t get there in time. This is where your timing comes into play and having someone in Verona is important. We would like to work with the volunteers at Verona to have rescue available. It’s all about dispersing our funds and our people to get the most value for saving the people. The discussions on Company 10 have become quite involved. While I was out of town there was discussions that the Board thought about keeping Company 10 open. What that told me was that we were going to spend more money. We have some other options. Let’s find a solution and make it real. This is where the idea of putting a station South of Staunton between the Staunton Mall and Mint Spring would be a valuable asset to have. The value we would get from the current Company 10 would offset the building cost of a new station. We need more people where we have problems. We are trying to make things fit within our budget. There are no proposals tonight because there is too much to discuss and too much to go over. There has been no movement on closing Company 10. We are currently trying to negotiate with Staunton. If Staunton refuses to negotiate I feel it is in our best interest to move south and build a new station.

Mr. Kelley made the following statement:

The Board of Supervisors and all of Fire and Rescue have the same main objective and that is to insure Augusta County is being served to the best of our ability. Decisions made by the Board have been made, after doing lots of research, seeking input from Augusta County Finance Department, Fire and Rescue leadership, Emergency Communication Center and even the Officers Association through the years. In reviewing the no response for each fire department, it became evident that parts of Augusta County, not just Verona, need additional manpower to assist the volunteer forces.

This is what brought the whole discussion up. It has been incorrectly reported by the news media and social media that I want to shut down Verona. I have no intentions of shutting down Verona. I have been a volunteer for 23 years, four years as President at Company 10 and five years as Chief. During that time people said Company 10 had been renovated, why are we closing it. The renovations, if you had been a member of Company during the blizzard, you would know how many weekends were spent shoveling snow off the road because it was coming down upon us. The building needed repair.

That is why it was done. With all of that said, I understand the sacrifice it takes to be a volunteer. As a Board of Supervisor for Beverley Manor, I know what my responsibility is.

It’s to look out for the citizen’s safety and make sure they are receiving the fastest response as possible to their calls. From the very beginning my objective has been to give the volunteers of Verona additional resources to insure the best coverage for their first due area, not to shut them down. The confusion that has happened since, I’m sorry, I did not mean it to be that way. I had no intentions of shutting you all down. It has also been incorrectly stated in news media and social media that the Board voted to pull the career staff out of Middlebrook station, when in fact, the Board voted to keep the career staff at Middlebrook. Since our minutes are public record, I’m going to encourage the citizens to look it up for themselves. The information is available. In conclusion, I want to address the Company 10 issue. The Board of Supervisors wants to continue to explore the possibilities of Company 10 open at its current location with the cooperation with the City of Staunton. If that option does not work out, another valuable option is to move Company 10 to the Jolivue area near 262 and Route 11. This was part of the original Strategic Plan of 2005 and 2011. Right after the vote of closing Company 10 I ask Chief Holloway and Mr. Fitzgerald to come up with a way to keep two career staff at Company 10. That is what I brought forth and asked the Board to look at. Again, the Board of Supervisors main objection is to make sure the citizens of Augusta County are safe and that the resources we have are used wisely. That’s where we come up with the plan and I hope the Board will consider these options.

Dr. Pattie made the following statement:

I want thank everyone for coming out tonight. I know you provide a lot of service to the County and that’s a wonderful thing. I come here two to three times a month and once in while I get yelled at and I do it for free as well. You guys go into fires and see people in difficult situations and that’s a wonderful thing that you do for the County. As far as the Strategic Plan, the Middlebrook issue has been covered. I think that was shot down within the first minute. Mr. Shull killed that pretty quickly. I was not supportive of the Strategic Plan. I thought it needed more work. Many of you guys complained that you did not get it until after it was published. I got it three or four days before we actually got a chance to discuss it. Going forward and re-evaluating the plan, volunteers should have feedback into it. You’re not going to get all that you want, but I think it makes sense that the citizens and everyone gets some kind of input into it before it’s brought to the Board for consideration. I hope it is dead on arrival. I think it needs significant improvements and I think that’s something that is going to happen. Strategically looking at our stations and something that I would like incorporated into the plan, I would like us to think about where to put the stations. The Company 10 station is in the center commerce, but it doesn’t serve the rural community all that well. Building another station or two on the outskirts of where Company 10 is would be better serve our community. A couple of Board members have talked about moving one south and we have also been in discussions of putting one north. In thinking of the paid stations, multiple stations would be the backbone of the volunteers. We would be able to support where we put these and locations to go out and help all of the volunteers when they are struggling. If you look at volunteers, they rotate through, they have a bad year and then the next year they do wonderful. I’m supportive of delaying any Company 10 action at this moment and I think many other Board members are there too.

Mr. Shull made the following statement:

First of all, I would like to thank each and everyone for coming out and I would also like to thank the career staff that is here also. They lay their lives on the line everyday also. You know it takes a special person to do what you do. I’m not that special person. I can hunt deer, work on cattle and everything like that, but when it comes to a person bleeding or whatever, I’m not that special person. I can take care of my kids. There is a lot that has been said about cost. I can tell you, if you are laying there or your kid is laying there it doesn’t matter what job you have or how much money you have, you would give anything in the world to help them. It doesn’t matter who shows up. They could care less what the name is on the side of vehicle as long as somebody shows up. When we look at taking Company 10 out of the mix, a long time ago, the County Administrator and Board put that company there, centrally located. The only way you get better service is to put more companies in. We can’t put more companies in, why not enhance what we have. We talk about building a station. The problem with this plan is EMS and career staff. I think we have heard from most everybody in the County. We hear of an older population in this County. What do we have to look forward to when we get older? We need help. This plan should have been concentrated on EMS and paying for the career staff. I know that everywhere you look volunteers are a dying breed, but we don’t have to kill it yet. We want to try to enhance it, try to help them out, and try to work with them. Communicate with them. The State and Federal government adds regulations to us all the time. The demands for the volunteers to have fund raisers. That cuts out of the training time. There is so much time involved there. I know you need help. We are going to have to pay more money. As one person brought up about Culpeper. I think everywhere I’ve been, I have not been told to not raise taxes. When I ran for this Board, I ran for three core things that the County citizens look for; Fire and Rescue, Sheriff’s Department and Schools. We have to pay out a lot more money than that on other things that is required by State and Federal Government, but that is one of the requirements we have to do. The main concern of our citizens are those three core items. You’ve heard about the cost; engines, training, medical supplies. Just a few years ago it didn’t cost the County anything for the OMD’s, but it costs the County over $40,000 just to oversee our Fire and Rescue.

Everything is going up. We are going to have to raise the taxes or come up with a fire tax.

We have to look at funding to take care of these needs. The citizens expect that. I hope this Board will look at that and will rescind this vote on closing Company 10 and sit down and talk to everyone involved. Sometimes more minds put together in a room can come up with ideas. We put it all together and make a strategic plan. We have had a strategic plan before. This is a starting point of looking down the road. I think we need to set down, take the time and figure out where we are going. I think the citizens want that. We should listen to you. I ask my Board to consider this and rescind closing Company 10 and we set back however long it takes and come up with a strategic plan for Fire and Rescue. Let’s try to enhance the volunteers. There is a lot of people in this County concerned about Fire and Rescue now. That’s what we were elected to do, serve you. Sometimes it requires you to have to raise taxes in order to meet the budget. For the past few years we haven’t had the growth in this County that we have had in past years. In 1982 or 1983 we were at $.60, we’ve been on $.58 for a long time because we live off of the growth that was in this County. Just a few years ago when the economy went south and the assessments went up and we lowered the tax rate back down to $.48 to make it revenue neutral, we haven’t had the growth over the past few years that we have had. Unfortunately, as many of you all know, you can’t live off of your savings account but for so long. It eventually runs dry.

In the private sector if you need more revenue to pay salaries or other needs, whatever your product us, you have to raise the price of it. I have faced that for years with stone and materials that I’ve bought for my business. It’s the same thing that happens in the public sector too. If it goes up in the private sector, it goes up in the public sector and we have to pay for it here just as well. We don’t have a money tree in the back that we can just pull money off of. It comes from you folks. We have been imposed with mandates from the State and Federal Government. They tell us what we have to do, but they don’t send money to help out. We are at the last level to get money. The Federal Government can pass it down to the State and require them to pay more and the State can pass it down to us which requires us to pay more. Where do we, the Board, pass it to? We pass it back to you, the tax payer. This is something that we have to live with every day. We are going to have to fund it somehow. That’s why we need to discuss it with the citizens.

What do you want us as a Board to do? Is it a fire tax or is it to increase taxes? I hate the thought of raising the taxes, but when you are sitting on the Board and look at the budget and what we provide to you as citizens, sometimes you have to say taxes need to be raised. When you see all of the Counties around us raising the taxes to pay the bills, we are going to have to do it too. We don’t want to end of bankrupt. We need to get the input from the citizens to see where we need to go. Whether it’s a strategic plan, a tax increase or schools. We’ve heard over the years on the schools. Most everybody will support schools because you are more involved. You want a good education. Your kids are in the schools and you want to provide the best for them. The parents and grandparents all go to the schools to see their kids, but 911 is a service that’s out here that you never use and you never think about it until somebody is in need. Then you pick up the phone and call 911. You pay for health and vehicle insurance and you hope you never have to use it. Paying for Fire and Rescue is like buying insurance. You pay for a service and then when you need it, you call 911 and somebody will show up. We talk about no responses, you are volunteers. The career staff has a boss that can say where each person is working for the day. We can’t push the volunteers like that. We appreciate the service. I know you can’t get there. We need to talk about the no responses. If you’re not able to show up on a night or weekend, call ECC and let them know. It won’t be charged as a no response. We need to look at that situation on no responses and work out a little better cooperation with the companies. If we are having problems, there is a simple solution, put dual response on it. If you’re not able to get out, somebody will show up. We can’t pay for career staffing in every company in the County.

That would mean a significant tax increase. I hope the Board will rescind this vote and delay the strategic plan so we can discuss it.

Mr. Coleman is prepared to put a motion on the floor, but would like to give Ms. Bragg and Mr. Garber the option to comment.

Mr. Garber made the following statement:

First of all I want to thank each of you for the way you have presented yourselves.

Presenting yourself professionally goes a long way with me whether we agree or disagree.

This is an emotional issue and sometimes that gets in the way, but you have acted professionally and I appreciate that. The one good thing that has come out of this is that it has forced a lot of people to have a lot of discussion that would not have been had otherwise. I’ve spent a lot of time talking to volunteers over the last month that we wouldn’t have had before. In the process of conversation there are things that come up and it has been good. It’s pointed out things that need to be done different. Obviously we have done a poor job in communication and we need consider how we do that in the future. For the short term, one thing I’m convinced of, if we were to rescind this tonight it would have the same effect. Across the Potomac, they can’t decide what they are going to do. We don’t need to be in that situation. We need a big timeout. There is nothing that’s been discussed that has to happen immediately. We can do what we have always done.

If we have a spot problem we take care of it at the time. Things happen, you deal with them. Sometimes you have to stop and take a big deep breath. I will support a big timeout.

Ms. Bragg made the following statement:

Very briefly, I think a lot of things that have been said would be redundant for me to say them too. I do want to thank everyone for attending. It’s very important that you are here and it’s impressive that you all care enough about the issue that you did show up. The Board listened to your comments and understands your concerns and I’m sure there will be further discussion on this. To Middlebrook, I do appreciate your concerns but at this time there is no movement on the Board to remove career personnel from there. Your citizens in your community are just as important as any other community in the County.

We accept that and we respect that. Verona and the volunteers throughout the County are all very hardworking, well trained and dedicated people. We are very proud of what our volunteer community does. It’s second to none. We appreciate the service that you do in your community and we do appreciate the service to the County. If the communication was a little shaky then we could talk about that all night long. I am sorry that it wasn’t as you all expected and you didn’t feel it where it should have been. That is something that we as a Board need to address. Of course we can’t require you to accept career staff. If that’s not your wish and your organization chooses not to do so. What is most important is the community of Verona is provided with the service that it requires.

This is a growing area. We have many businesses, industries and lots of people. It’s important that the service is provided whether you all do it or we can partner someway. If the decision is not to accept assistance, I hope a plan can to be put together jointly that will improve responses in the areas that need response assistance. I don’t say that in a negative reflection on what is going on specifically in Verona. I truly believe the volunteers of Verona are doing an amazing job. Volunteerism is a very difficult conversation. It’s harder and harder to recruit. The training hours are long and hard. A commitment to any organization like that is a struggle. We understand that and recognize that. Again, I hope that you will be willing to work with us to do something or anything that we can to assist you with that. I hope you all understand that as a County it is our responsibility to assure adequate rescue services are available throughout. There is not a perfect formula to this.

It’s a very difficult process to go through. Every area is different and working with every company is different. And Finally Company 10, I sincerely hope that Staunton and Augusta County can form a partnership for the continued operation of that station. I think it’s important, but I also think that Staunton needs to come to the table and jointly partner with us to work on providing the services to that whole area. If an agreement is not made, we still have to do what we believe at the end of the day is in the best interest of all citizens in the County. Whether it’s open or closed, we have to take the resources available and make hard decisions. That’s what we do.

Mr. Coleman made the following statement:

I would like to make some comments as the final Board member. I want to thank you for being here. We have been listening and we continue to listen going forward. One of the things that never sits well with me and I routinely hear it and I want you to hear it. You are not listening to your constituents. I said that to the media. Who are our constituents?

The 200 people that showed up at the Board meeting? What about the little over 10,000 that I represent? Each of us represent. There are roughly 75,000 people in this County and in my district I don’t live in the same house Mike lives in. Mike said he had not run into anybody that would object to a tax increase. I haven’t run into many that entertain that idea. They basically say to live within your means. You’re committing $10.5 million of resources. You’ve got 105 career people and you’ve got over 700 volunteers. Find a way to make it work. We are doing that. I’m proud to say that and you need to know that. Mr. Pyles mentioned that. When I came on the Board I was not about raising taxes. It’s not the first thing that is going to cross my mind. Growing our economy and creating jobs is what is crossing my mind. Did you read about Hershey expanding, Shamrock in the Industrial Park or Draftco, Inc. in Stuarts Draft with a $450,000 expansion and 16 additional jobs? How about the work that the Board is doing with our local delegation in Richmond to level the playing field with the Cities. We can’t raise the meals tax. We keep having discussions about tax reform. There’s no serious move or discussion about reforming the taxes. How about the lodging tax. People that come into our community, spend money and go home or the tobacco tax. We currently cannot raise any of these taxes. We need to do that. The manufacturing group will eventually repeal the machinery and tool tax in Richmond. That amounts to $3.5 million that will just go away. Where are we going to find $3.5 million? None of us like the fact that we raising taxes. This Board voted for no tax increase at the Budget Worksession and now I’m hearing we should have raised the taxes. I was the one that said pay me now, pay me later. Are you sure we don’t need to raise it a penny or two? It was unanimous, except for Mr. Garber’s absence, to not raise the taxes. Let’s talk about growing our economy. Last year we generated $1.4 million in new revenue and $700,000 of that went to the schools. Then people say that we need to do more for the schools. We just gave the schools $3 million from the sale of the Ladd Elementary in Waynesboro and it’s never sold. We gave that money for technology enhancements. We opened two new schools, Riverheads, Hugh K. Cassell.

We were able to do that without raising taxes. This tax rate ends up being a very positive thing in the eyes of the people we are trying to bring here. Regional Governance, it’s easy for you all and that’s what we do. You talk about what we haven’t done. People comment regularly that we need to work with Staunton. Staunton doesn’t want to work with us.

We’ve got two pages, in terms of Regional Governance, that lists things we are doing together. How about the Landfill? How about our schools? It makes no sense to have three school divisions, but if Staunton and Waynesboro aren’t open to that you may as well move on and they are not. They are both preparing to spend approximately $100 million to renovate Lee High School and Waynesboro High School. It’s like Mr. Pyles’ thing about economies of scale. It makes no sense probably for any of us to operate EOC. That 911 call could go in anywhere and they dispatch it, but our friends don’t want to do that. Right now they don’t want to partner with us to keep Company 10 open. Mr. Shull put a motion out to table the strategic plan because he wanted us to go to Staunton.

We didn’t table it, we voted to close Company 10 and part of that motion was to go to Staunton. We desperately want Company 10 to stay there. 70% of the calls out of Company 10 are in Staunton and on the Interstate. That makes 30% of the calls in the County. There is a continuous debate among the Board that as long as we keep doing what the State should do, the State will continue to not do it. The State continues to give us the unfunded mandates and guess where the buck stops. The buck stops here because they require it and we have to do it. Thank you for listening to my comments. I have been on the fringes of working with Preston Yancey when it was totally a volunteer fire company and then it went to having some career people. I know that this Board values the volunteers. Communication was bungled and we need to fix that communication. You all needed to be involved and you will be involved going forward in terms of partnership to figure out what we need to do that’s in everyone’s best interest.

Mr. Coleman moved, seconded by Ms. Bragg, to amend the previously adopted motion to close Company 10 and to delay any further action giving the Board of Supervisors time to continue working with various Fire and Rescue agencies impacted by this previous decision.

Mr. Shull would like for the Board to reconsider on rescinding this because it leaves the Strategic Plan hanging in the balance. There’s nothing to say that we couldn’t rescind this and come up with a plan. If the plan is to move Company 10 eventually, we could move to adopt that at that time. We are not leaving a clear picture to everyone because the plan is still out there. Is it six months from now that we move forward with it. I think the parties that we will be dealing with would get a clear picture. We are committed to serving the Company 10 area. 1,252 first due calls in the County went out of Company 10 last year.

Company 10 serves everywhere. I think we would send a clear message that we stand behind you if we would rescind it. We can adopt a new resolution to close Company 10 in the future, but it would let everyone know that we are looking and concerned about them.

We want to come up with the best plan possible.

Mr. Garber stated that what many people think got us in this situation was taking an action in the absence of a lot of information. Whether that’s right or wrong, I don’t know. I think to rescind the motion when we are basically saying that we aren’t going to do anything until we get the information and process it like we have been asked to do, that’s what we need to do. I will support the motion.

Vote was as follows: Yeas: Shull, Garber, Coleman, Kelley, Pattie, Bragg, and Pyles Nays: None The Board reconvened after a 10 minute break.

FIRE AND RESCUE GRANT FUNDING

The Board considered Committee’s recommendation for funding.

Minday Craun, Volunteer Coordinator-Emergency Services, stated that the latest round of the Fire/Rescue grants were completed. There are two applications for the latest round.

They are from Swoope Volunteer Fire Company and the other was from Churchville Volunteer Fire Department. Swoope’s request was for $2,853.00 for 50% of ten pagers and a new ice machine to support the rehab unit that Chief Holloway mentioned in his presentation. The committee recommended to fund this request fully. Churchville Volunteer Fire Department requested $50,000 which is the max allowable for this grant.

Their request is for air packs. They have applied several times through AFG grants and have been turned down. Their air packs all expire at the end of August. They have purchased 21 sets and that was approximately $154,000. When the committee looked at the request, the committee recommended funding $31,821.40 which is 5 complete sets.

The Committee looked at it as that would outfit their first out piece of apparatus.

Mr. Coleman asked who was on the committee.

Ms. Craun stated that there are two representatives from the volunteer companies. It varies from time to time. If they apply for a grant, they can’t set on the committee. Ms. Craun is the moderator for the group. Chief Holloway has input. We have one of the Emergency Services Committee members on it and right now it is Mr. Kelley. Corey Richie from the Procurement Department and Andy Shaver is the member at large.

Mr. Kelley moved, seconded by Mr. Shull, that the Board approve the grants as presented.

Vote was as follows: Yeas: Shull, Garber, Coleman, Kelley, Pattie, Bragg, and Pyles Nays: None Motion carried.

PERSONAL PROPERTY TAX RELIEF PROGRAM-RESOLUTION

The Board considered resolution establishing the rate of tax relief of qualifying vehicles for purpose of the Personal Property Tax Relief Act.

Jennifer Whetzel, Deputy County Administrator, stated that this is a resolution regarding the Personal Property Relief Act. This was an act that Governor Gilmer implemented in 1998 where the State would pay a portion of Personal Property tax. They set that at a $950 million cap Statewide and currently the County gets approximately $4.3 million in State funds that get applied towards the Tax Relief Act. Our current percentage, according to the ordinance, will be about 40%. It’s applied to the assessed values for vehicles more than $1,000 and it’s applied to the first $20,000 in value for those vehicles.

In 2006 our percentage was 60% and it dropped to around 50% in 2011 and now it’s down to 40%. The Commissioner of Revenue needs the resolution in order to finalize the Personal Property book and get the tax tickets out in September.

Mr. Coleman moved, seconded by Ms. Bragg, that the Board adopt the following resolution:

WHEREAS, the Personal Property Tax Relief Act of 1998, Va. Code §§ 58.1-3523 et seq. (“PPTRA”), has been substantially modified by the enactment of Chapter 1 of the Acts of Assembly, 2004 Special Session I (Senate Bill 5005), and the provisions of Item 503 of Chapter 951 of the 2005 Acts of Assembly (the 2005 revisions to the 2004-06 Appropriations Act).

WHEREAS, by its enactment of an ordinance on December 14, 2005 (“Ordinance”), the Board of Supervisors of Augusta County, Virginia (the “Board of Supervisors”) has previously implemented such modifications of the PPTRA.

WHEREAS, the Board of Supervisors now desires to set the rate of tax relief for tax year 2017 for purposes of the Ordinance.

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY, VIRGINIA:

1. For purposes of § 3(c) of the Ordinance, the rate of tax relief with respect to qualifying vehicles with assessed values of more than $1,000, and applied to the first $20,000 in value of each such qualifying vehicle, shall be forty (40%).

2. All other provisions of the Ordinance shall be implemented by the Commissioner of the Revenue or the County Treasurer, as applicable, including, without limitation, those set forth in § 3(b) of the Ordinance, pertaining to the elimination of personal property taxation of each qualifying vehicle with an assessed value of $1,000 or less, and in § 4, pertaining to liability of taxpayers whose taxes with respect to a qualifying vehicle for tax year 2005 or any prior tax year remain unpaid.

3. This Resolution shall take effect immediately upon its adoption.

Vote was as follows: Yeas: Shull, Garber, Coleman, Kelley, Pattie, Bragg, and Pyles Nays: None Motion carried.

VERONA COMMUNITY FOOD PANTRY FUNDING REQUEST

The Board considered a funding request for additional construction cost in their leased area.

Funding Source: Beverley Manor District 80000-8011-86 $1,087.50 North River District 80000-8013-50 $1,087.50 Candy Hensley, Assistant to the County Administrator, stated in May $2,000 was approved for funding to spray insulation in the Food Pantry in the Social Services building. They did not include flame retardant that was required in the insulation. They are required to go back and do as part of their building permit requirements. There was an additional cost of $2,175. There are requesting funding from the Board for that portion.

Mr. Kelley moved, seconded by Dr. Pattie, that the Board approve the additional funding request.

Vote was as follows: Yeas: Shull, Garber, Coleman, Kelley, Pattie, Bragg, and Pyles Nays: None Motion carried.

FLOOD CONTROL DAMS

The Board considered revised agreements for Hearthstone Dam.

Ms. Whetzel stated that we have hired an engineer to design the Hearthstone Dam rehabilitation. The work will begin around the middle of April 2017. The Federal funding has agreements that is tied to the dates of when the funds can be spent. It is before the Board to say the design activities will be completed by March 2018 and the construction activities will be extended until December 31, 2018.

Dr. Pattie moved, seconded by Mr. Garber, that the Board approve the revised agreements.

Vote was as follows: Yeas: Shull, Garber, Coleman, Kelley, Pattie, Bragg, and Pyles Nays: None Motion carried.

SIX- YEAR PLAN

The Board considered the advertised FY17-23 Secondary System Six-Year Plan and Fiscal Year 2017-18 Construction Budget.

Mr. Fitzgerald presented to the Board the VDOT Six-Year Plan. There was a Public Hearing regarding this plan previously and it is being brought before the Board tonight for the approval of the plan. The Fiscal Year 2017-2018 construction budget as presented by VDOT is also up for approval. There was one change to the Six-Year Plan. Originally two sections of Wilda Road in the Riverheads District were on the plan. The section from .5 miles south of Route 657 to Route 608 has been removed from the plan and Stone Branch Lane has been added in its place. The money that was allocated for this section of Wilda rolled over to Stone Branch. Stone Branch has been on the citizens list previously and in conversation with VDOT, they indicated that there were maintenance issues and felt confident about adding Stone Branch Lane.

Mr. Shull moved, seconded by Mr. Coleman, that the Board approve the VDOT Six-Year Plan and FY 2017-18 Construction Budget.

Vote was as follows: Yeas: Shull, Garber, Coleman, Kelley, Pattie, Bragg, and Pyles Nays: None Motion carried.

WAIVERS/VARIANCES – NONE

CONSENT AGENDA

Mr. Coleman moved, seconded by Mr. Shull, that the Board approve the consent agenda as follows:

MINUTES

Consider minutes of the following meetings:

• Regular Meeting, Wednesday, June 14, 2017

CLAIMS

Considered claims paid since July 01, 2017 Vote was as follows: Yeas: Shull, Garber, Coleman, Kelley, Pattie, Bragg, and Pyles Nays: None Motion carried.

(END OF CONSENT AGENDA)

MATTERS TO BE PRESENTED BY THE BOARD

Ms. Bragg reminded everyone of an Open House at Riverheads Fire Department on August 12, Wilson Fire Department and New Hope Fire Department has one the August 19.

MATTERS TO BE PRESENTED BY STAFF

Mr. Fitzgerald discussed the following issues:

1) Reminder of the VACO Summit on August 21 in Charlottesville.

2) Staff Briefing meeting has been moved to Tuesday, August 22 due to the VACO Summit.

3) A ribbon cutting for the new Hugh K. Cassell Elementary School will be at 7:00 p.m.

on Tuesday, August 22.

4) The Augusta County Fair was a success. He thanked everyone for their help in the booth.

5) There will be an agenda item on the August 23 regular meeting agenda concerning the Verona Elementary School surplus property.

Mr. Kelley stated that the VCA has mentioned using the gym at Verona Elementary School for cheer and volleyball.

Mr. Fitzgerald stated that once the deed is recorded it belongs to Augusta County. It can be looked into at that point.

6) Received a letter from DEQ that offered to Augusta County a Memorandum of Agreement to be a participant in the review of the erosion and sediment control plans for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. They have also have asked that we be a ride along on any inspections for the pipeline that they do. It was made clear that we would not have jurisdiction over that because it will be a State responsibility.

However, if our inspector wanted to go with DEQ to inspect they are open to that with the Memorandum of Agreement. The only cost to the County is staff time. It gives the County the plans ahead of time and opportunity to look at them and comment on them. It does not give control from a jurisdictional standpoint. This requires the Board agreement to allow staff to participate.

Mr. Pyles stated that this is something this Board has had a number of concerns about.

Ms. Bragg moved, seconded by Mr. Kelley, that the Board instruct staff to sign the Memorandum of Agreement.

Vote was as follows: Yeas: Shull, Garber, Coleman, Kelley, Pattie, Bragg, and Pyles Nays: None Motion carried.

7) There have been discussions on the Dominion Tower Project and the case before the SCC concerning painting the towers with Nandina. This is a darkening type paint.

The Board instructed staff to produce a letter to the SCC Corporation to request the towers in Augusta County to be painted. The new project will look at the towers being painted before installation. The letter was presented to the Board for thoughts.

Mr. Coleman stated that the towers in Fishersville were at one time shiny when they were new. As time passed the shininess went away because Mother Nature takes care of it.

Mr. Pyles stated that there were people requesting the towers be muted in some way.

Ms. Bragg moved, that the Board approve sending the letter asking for the towers to be painted in Augusta County.

Vote was as follows: Yeas: Bragg and Pyles Nays: Shull, Garber, Coleman, Kelley, Pattie Motion fails.

8) There is an application deadline for September 15 on the Rescue Squad Assistance Fund Grant. A replacement ambulance is being requested. This will be an agenda item for the August 23 meeting.

9) Reminder of the survey on Mill Place Zoning options.

CLOSED SESSION

On motion of Mr. Kelley, seconded by Mr. Coleman, the Board went into closed session pursuant to:

(1) the personnel exemption under Virginia Code § 2.2-3711(A)(1) [discussion, consideration or interviews of (a) prospective candidates for employment, or (b) assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, disciplining or resignation of specific employees]:

A) Boards and Commissions (2) the real property exemption under Virginia Code § 2.2-3711(A)(3) [discussion of the acquisition for a public purpose, or disposition, of real property]:

A) Landfill Property (3) the legal counsel exemption under Virginia Code § 2.2-3711(A)(7) [consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members or consultants pertaining to actual or probable litigation, and consultation with legal counsel regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel, as permitted under subsection (A) (7)]:

A) Lund v. Rowland County N.C.

On motion of Mr. Shull, seconded by Mr. Coleman, the Board came out of Closed Session.

Vote was as follows: Yeas: Bragg, Kelley, Garber, Wendell, Shull, Pattie and Pyles Nays: None Motion carried.

The Chairman advised that each member is required to certify that to the best of their knowledge during the closed session only the following was discussed:

1. Public business matters lawfully exempted from statutory open meeting requirements, and 2. Only such public business matters identified in the motion to convene the executive session.

The Chairman asked if there is any Board member who cannot so certify.

Hearing none, the Chairman called upon the County Administrator/ Clerk of the Board to call the roll noting members of the Board who approve the certification shall answer AYE and those who cannot shall answer NAY.

Roll Call Vote was as follows:

AYE: Bragg, Garber, Kelley, Coleman, Shull, Pattie and Pyles NAY: None The Chairman authorized the County Administrator/Clerk of the Board to record this certification in the minutes.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no other business to come before the Board, Mr. Coleman moved, seconded by Mr. Shull, the Board adjourn subject to call of the Chairman.

Vote was as follows: Yeas: Shull, Garber, Coleman, Bragg, and Pyles Nays: None

Absent: Kelley and Pattie
Motion carried.
Chairman County Administrator
h:8-09min.17