BoS Business Meeting 9 March 2020

March 11, 2020 by chas
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Summary:

  • Arts Alive is thriving; summer camp scholarships are available;
  • NKC budget of $76 million proposed;
  • Five “Firehouse Chats” proposed to present budget to the public;
  • Borrowing for new school discussed;
  • Public hearing of proposed tax rates cancelled;

Meeting Notes:

All NKC Supervisors were present.

Citizen’s Comments

A concerned citizen from Sandston made an appeal to the Board regarding a high pressure natural gas pipeline that will be crossing the county on its way to Charles City. She’s concerned about her 45 acres in New Kent and fears that the line will cross her property or they will “take” her property. She wanted to bring this to the attention of the board. She cited a couple instances of these pipelines in other parts of the country that have exploded causing death and damage to property. A resident of Quinton who also expressed the same concerns followed her.

Arts Alive

There were 2 representatives from the Arts Alive program. The power point was interesting. In addition to theater presentations, they also support 2 summer camps (1/3 of the children participating are from New Kent) and they offer 3 scholarships for high school seniors. Unfortunately due to lack of interest last year they only gave 1 scholarship. This year they are hoping for more participation. The Supervisors indicated that frequently there was a lack of interest in many scholarship opportunities. Additionally, VFMA Mobile Museum would be at the Taste of New Kent event May 7 – 9.

County Budget for FY21

Mr. Hathaway gave a presentation on the proposed FY21 Budget. He went over each line of a summarized report. The overall budget is $76+M, about half of which is for schools. He indicated that the tax rate of $.82 per $100 will remain the same for this period. The budget contains 12 new fire personnel and 6 new sheriff positions. For the first time in a long time there will be no increase to the water and sewer rates. This budget proposal will be further discussed at a retreat on Friday, March 13 at the Providence Forge Recreation Center. The Agenda for that meeting is posted at the link above.

Mr. Hathaway is also setting up Community Meetings at each of the firehouses later this month. The schedule will be published. The meeting at Firehouse 5 will be March 25 at 8:00 AM.

He also reported that along with the General Assembly passing the bill allowing Casinos in 5 areas on the state (New Kent is not one of them) the bill came along with an addendum allowing Colonial Downs/Rosies to add 2000 more historical racing machines. This could come about in 2 years.

New Elementary School

The firm helping with the Bond Issue for the new elementary school entered into a short discussion regarding the 2 ways the bonds could be issued. This will be further addressed at the meeting on Friday.

Clean County Committee Shredding Event

Supervisor Lockwood reported that there would be a shredding program at the county on March 28, 1 – 4 PM. In addition to shredding, tires, electronics, etc. could also be brought and would be hauled away. He stated this information would be published.

Prepared by Carol Applegate of Four Seasons

NKC Board of Supervisors Meeting Agenda: (http://va-newkentcounty.civicplus.com/625/NovusAgenda).

Meeting Schedule: The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Supervisors will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, April 13, 2020 and the next work session at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 25, 2020, both in the Boardroom of the County Administration Building.