Following a Historical Documents Presentation to ‘Routine’ County Business – Depending on How You Define ‘Routine’

In the wake of an hour-and-45 minute closed session discussion of FR-WC EDA legal liability matters; another exploration of “legal matters related to the providing of library services” among other matters including existing parameters on “approvals of the use of County property, including the Courthouse, for public displays”, the Warren County Board of Supervisors launched into an abbreviated work session prior to its regular meeting of Tuesday, September 17. The work session had been scheduled to begin a 6 p.m. following the 5 p.m. convened Closed/Executive Session.

The board comes out of a closed session 45 minutes beyond its scheduled one hour. That left Assistant Fire & Rescue Chief Gerry Maiatico about 15 minutes to summarize the department’s plan on implementation of the new Medication Exchange Program. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

That work session presentation by County Fire & Rescue Assistant Chief Gerry Maiatico began at 6:47 p.m. and outlined the departments plans to make the transition into new state and federal guidelines for oversight of the Emergency Services’ Medication Exchange Program, which oversees the departments transport and use of prescription drugs on medical emergency calls, as smooth as possible. The primary operational concern as presented by the department is how much down time will be created for units that have used their prescription drug allotment on calls before they are able to be restocked. The department is still exploring prescription drug provider and regional options to minimize operational cost increases, Maiatico told the county supervisors, while setting an “internal go live date of November 1st to provide a small window of comfort to the mandated November 27th date”.

And then just four minutes late the board moved into its 7 p.m. scheduled regular, open meeting. Other than board and staff reports and monthly approvals of finances and record keeping, as well as Public Concerns Comments, the board faced only one Action Item on its meeting agenda. That item was approval of a 13-item Consent Agenda of what is generally considered “routine” business not requiring public discussion prior to a vote of approval.

Buck Mountain Road are residents Andrew Heymann at the podium, and Jeanette Winget, seated in second row awaiting her turn, addressed concerns at County Code requiring the naming of their residential accessway attracting general traffic through their properties were their driveway to be extended across the property.

How do you define “Routine”?

However, “routine” may not have been an apt description of the meeting on several fronts, from an opening historical presentation noting County residents’ connections to the American Revolution to a more recent County connection to at least one of its Sanitary Districts, Shenandoah Farms to be precise. More on that shortly.

The historical aspect began in the wake of the opening prayer conducted by “Liberty Man” Larry Johnson, in full American Revolutionary garb. Following the invocation Board Chairman Cheryl Cullers asked Johnson to return to the podium with his granddaughter Baker Grace Johnson, a third-grader at E. Wilson Morrison Elementary School, to lead the board in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Following the pledge they were joined at the podium by an also fully period-garbed contingent of Sons of the American Revolution, James Wood Chapter, for a presentation to the County’s elected officials of a  trio of representations of Revolutionary War period historical documents and an accompanying 13-starred American Flag brought forward to the podium by Baker Grace (20:55 linked County video mark).

With the help of her grandfather, the ‘Liberty Man’, Baker Grace Johnson presents historical document copies and a 13-star post-Revolutionary War American flag to Board Chairman Cheryl Cullers to recall local families here with roots to the birth of the nation from colonial rule.

Liberty Man Larry Johnson explained the items held by his granddaughter were a gift to the County citing the connection of local families to America’s war of independence against the British Empire dating to the late 1700s. He said he hoped the county government could find a way to appropriately display the items in an educational context, perhaps within the Warren County Government Center.

Prior to three repeated expressions of concern by neighboring residential property owners to the proposed Sheriff’ Office Training/Shooting Range in the Bentonville Solid Waste site area, Public Comments began with two speakers expressing concerns about a state-mandated road naming of what appears to be essentially a driveway to a three-structure residential property. First, Andrew Heymann (31:25 video mark), then Jeanette Winget. who’s properties would be impacted, asked the board to reconsider the road naming request for a thruway to their properties off Buck Mountain Road. Coincidentally, that road naming request was the first item, K-1, on the evening’s Consent Agenda.

And as a result of Heymann and Winget’s expressions of concern their residential properties might be turned into thruways for more generalized area traffic, at the suggestion of the chair item K-1 was pulled from the Consent Agenda. Then at the suggesion of County Attorney Jason Ham, on a motion by Chairman Cullers, second by Jamieson, action on the Buck Mountain Road area renaming was tabled to a future date.

County Attorney Jason Ham, right, advised the board on legally technical matters, including tabling of a vote on imposition of County accessway naming codes at a certain point of development to ascertain potential consequences on impacted residential properties.

So, with one item added (the appointment of a citizen, Fern Vazquez, to the Department of Social Services Advisory Board), and the Buck Mountain area road naming removed and tabled, the Consent Agenda was then approved as amended on a motion by Jamieson, second by Stanmeyer.

Consent Agenda actions

As part of that Consent Agenda the Supervisors acted on the three major topics of the previous week’s work session, among other items. Those three topics of September 10th work session discussion were:

Appointment of a new Shenandoah Farms Sanitary District Advisory Committee, they named 4 out of the required 5 positions;

Implementation of a specific policy on the determination of worker suitability for interacting with minors required to access FY24 and FY25 Victim Witness grants through the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS);

And an upgrade to the retirement compensation formula for positions eligible for hazardous duty benefits so those employees are eligible for a higher retirement compensation rate.

Those latter two personnel matters certainly seem routine in the wake of last week’s work session discussion.

Routine Farms Business?

However, in the wake of the board’s ceasing to work with its earlier Farms Advisory Committee circa early, mid-2023 following sometimes contentious disagreements over board decisions and county staff recommendations on Farms infrastructure projects and consequent costs, one might wonder how “routine” Shenandoah Farms Sanitary District residents, particularly past management entity Property Owners of Shenandoah Farms (POSF) board members or past Advisory Committee members, consider the creation of new advisory body.

Consent Agenda items K-8 through K-11 saw the appointment of Craig Tabor, Doris Harrington, Patrick Skelley, and Rex Christensen to a reinstated Farms Advisory Committee. The latter three’s appointments expire June 30, 2026, with Tabor’s expiring June 30, 2025.

It would appear that those appointment have been made in the wake of the terms of the initial Committee appointees having all expired. One might recall that between January and April 2023, the board of supervisors stopped scheduling Farms Advisory Committee meetings or according to then committee members, responding to inquiries about rescheduling supervisor-cancelled meetings.

Royal Examiner file photos of Shenandoah Farms Advisory Committee meetings in late 2022 and early 2023, with county staff at far right, prior to the board’s cancelling of further meetings until sitting members terms had expired. Is there a story being told from the pictured body language?

Former Farms Advisory Committee members, particularly its two Chairman, Bruce Boyle and Sarah Saber, battled the supervisors over their perception that they weren’t really an advisory body, because the board never seemed to accept their advice on infrastructure decisions and Farms Sanitary District finances. In fact, rather than an advisory board, previous Farms Advisory Committee chairmen said it appeared the supervisors were simply seeking a rubber stamping of their decisions based on non-Farms resident county staff recommendations.

In fact, Boyle resigned his chairmanship of the committee following he and his wife’s decision to move, not only out of Shenandoah Farms, but out of Warren County. Then Vice-Chairman Saber took over the chairman’s seat as the relationship between the county’s elected officials and their appointed Sanitary District Advisory Committee continued to deteriorate into 2023.

LINK to story Published 1-6-23: “Tension continues between Farms Sanitary District Advisory Committee and County officials on responsibilities and transparency”

We will follow this story as it develops and the newly appointed committee begins its efforts to advise the board on Sanitary District financial and infrastructure needs, processes, and expenditures.

The meeting agenda packet on the new appointments contained this description of the Farms Sanitary District Advisory Committee’s purpose:

EXPLANATION & SUMMARY

“The primary responsibility of the (SFSDAC) is to give input to the Board of Supervisors and County Administration Staff on the Annual Budget and Tax Rate for the Shenandoah Farms Sanitary District. Additional responsibilities include providing input on the Road System Capital Improvement Plan and Facility Maintenance for the Shenandoah Farms Sanitary District. Their primary responsibility is to give input on the annual budget and per-lot tax rate for the District. No later than January 1 prior to the beginning of each fiscal year, the SFSDAC shall prepare and submit a proposed annual budget and suggested tax rate for its operating expenses to County Administration staff. The County shall collect Sanitary District funds semi-annually and place them in a separate fund and appropriated based on the adopted budget.

“SFSDAC shall have five (5) Directors, and all Directors must be property owners within the boundaries of the Shenandoah Farms Sanitary District. All Directors shall be appointed by the Board of Supervisors.”

And good luck to all involved.

Click here to watch the entire meeting discussions and votes in the County video.