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04-02-2020 Called Meeting - DRAFTCalled Meeting April 2, 2020 PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS CALLED MEETING THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2020 VIRGINIA: The Called Meeting of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors was held on Thursday, April 2, 2020, in the Gallery Room of the Chatham Community Center, 115 South Main Street, Chatham, Virginia 24531. Robert “Bob” W. Warren, Chairman, called the Meeting to Order at 7:00 PM. The following Board Members were present: Joe B. Davis Timothy W. Dudley Ben L. Farmer William (“Vic”) Ingram (via phone from 1301 Deercrest Lane, Danville, Virginia 24540) Charles H. Miller, Jr. Ronald S. Scearce Robert (“Bob”) W. Warren David M. Smitherman, County Administrator and Clerk of the Board; Mr. J. Vaden Hunt Esq., County Attorney; and Kimberly G. Van Der Hyde, Finance Director, were also present. Approval of Agenda Motion by Mr. Dudley, seconded by Dr. Miller, to approve Agenda, which was unanimously approved by the Board. New Business (a) Approval of School Budget Motion by Mr. Scearce to recommend approval of the School Budget in the amount of $101,049,739. Second not required because Motion came from Finance Committee. Motion was unanimously approved by the Board. (b) Approval of County Budget/Budget Resolution Motion by Mr. Scearce to approve the County Budget in the amount of $186,116,529. Second not required because Motion came from Finance Committee. Substitute Motion by Mr. Ingram as follows: “I would like to make a Motion to reallocate $260,000 to supply one (1) quick response vehicle and two (2) paramedics. As you definitely well know, at this time in the state of our Country as well as our County, there is a dire need for emergency response, our County lacks that and we are going through a crisis right now and so I’d like to make that Motion.” Mr. Farmer seconded the Motion for discussion. Mr. Farmer stated, “So Mr. Ingram said $260,000 from the Pet Center? Is that what I heard?”. Mr. Ingram replied, “No sir, what I said was to reallocate $260,000. That was under the discretion of Mr. Smitherman and Mrs. Van Der Hyde. Uh, I did focus on the Pet Center because that was the obvious place I felt like that we could make a transfer, but I’m just desperately asking for us to consider providing more rescue services for our citizens and this is just the way to get started. I know this is a bad time, but it’s never, uh, it’s never too late to get started.” Mr. Warren stated, “I’m going to respectfully say that I’m going to stick with the Budget as presented due to the fact that I looked back and in Called Meeting April 2, 2020 2018 we provided $3,319,061 for Public Safety. In 2019 we provided $4,343,100 for Public Safety. Um, the 2020 Budget carries $4,638,393. This year Budget carries $5,075,208. I do agree that we may need some adjustments following the COVID-19, however as I looked at this Budget we’re already $1.7M ahead of where we were in 2018 for Public Safety because that has been a focus of the Board since I came on the Board and we will continue to supply these folks with every one of their needs, but we have a Fire Commission and I think it would be inappropriate for us to do that before it goes to the Fire Commission for their vetting and their process and we may need to make some adjustments, that’s why we said from our Finance Chairman that there will probably be adjustments going forward, so for that reason I am going to, um, not support the recommendation from Mr. Ingram.” Mr. Scearce then stated, “I’d like to say to my friends as well, I serve on the Fire and Rescue Commission and I know that our Public Safety Director, Chris Slemp, has been working on a lot of issues through this crisis, and this has been one of the issues that we’ve had to deal with renewing, uh, revising the contract with DRT, and he’s working hand in glove with the Fire and Rescue Commission Chairman and Vice- Chairman, I know, and I know we will probably be addressing this, but I know there’s one thing we’ve been trying to work on for a few years now, is to get more paid EMS services out there to the public and that is still an ongoing process which will be looked at again by the Fire and Rescue Commission when it is appropriate. Thank you, sir.” There was no further discussion and the vote for Mr. Ingram’s Motion failed by a 6-1 vote. The votes were as follows: Davis, no; Miller, no; Scearce, no; Farmer, no; Dudley, no; and Ingram, yes. The next vote was back to the original Motion by Mr. Scearce to approve the County Budget in the amount of $186,116,529. The votes we as follows: Davis, yes; Miller, yes; Scearce, yes; Farmer, yes; Dudley; Warren, yes; and Ingram, no. Mr. Scearce’s Motion passed by a 6-1 vote. (b) Resolution # 2020-04-02 Buy Local Mr. Smitherman stated this COVID-19 Pandemic is causing very trying times and the County is trying to secure supplies needed. The Resolution states that the Board supports buying local during this time. Motion by Mr. Scearce, seconded by Mr. Farmer, to approve Resolution # 2020-04-02, which was unanimously approved by the Board. Adjournment Mr. Warren adjourned the Meeting at 7:11 PM.