Supervisors address several local issues
Diane Newby is presented tokens of appreciation by the Supervisors. She is retiring from her position as Pulaski County Finance Director. (William Paine/Patriot Publishing)
By WILLIAM PAINE
Patriot Publishing
All seats were filled at the start of Monday night’s February meeting of the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors, as several presentations and public hearings were on the agenda. Supervisors also considered issues on animal tethering, publication of delinquent taxes and a solar ordinance.
The meeting began with a presentation of retirement tokens for outgoing Pulaski County Finance Director Diane Newby, who had served in that position since 2008.
The Future Farmers of America paid a visit to the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors. (William Paine/Patriot Publishing)
Emma Tickle, President of the Pulaski County Future Farmers of America (FFA), came to the podium along with other FFA officers and recited the FFA Creed. Following the creed, an update of FFA activities was given to the supervisors.
“Last week was FFA week,” said Supervisor Jeff Reeves, who invited the FFA to come. “And if you listen to the words of the creed, I think they’re words we could all live by.”
In recognition of Black History Month, Ashely Edmonds, Clerk to the Board of Supervisors, came to the podium and spoke about Medal of Honor and Purple Heart recipient Sergeant Cornelius H. Charlton.
As Edmonds explained, though Sergeant Charlton was born in West Virginia, his father, grandfather and great grandfather all called Dublin home. Charlton joined the army at 21 and died on June 2, 1951, in the Korean War after being killed in action. Charlton displayed such fearlessness and gallantry that he received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in combat.
The Charlton Memorial Bridge over the Bluestone Gorge on the West Virginia Turnpike and the USNS Charlton were both named in honor of his service.
One Bag Challenge
Josh Taylor, Chairman of the Pulaski County School Board next approached the podium to gamely accept the One Bag Challenge extended by the county supervisors.
Initiated by Chair of the board Laura Walters, last year’s One Bag Challenge resulted in 237 participants collecting 849 bags of trash and 275 tires from throughout Pulaski County. The program also garnered a Virginia Association of Counties Achievement Award.
“I can’t tell you how excited I am for Pulaski County Public Schools to accept the invitation to participate in the One Bag Challenge,” said Taylor.
Taylor, went on to say that the One Bag Challenge would be promoted at PCPS through clubs and extracurricular activities.
Chairwoman Laura Walters thanked the members of the school board for attending the meeting (Gina Paine and Sabrina Cox were also present) and then explained that for each bag of trash collected, the participant’s name will be added into a monthly drawing for a $100 Visa gift card.
Starting in March, both the board of supervisors and the school board will draw three names from a list of participants who turned in at least one bag of trash for the One Bag Challenge and award those individuals with a $100 Visa gift card. Together, Pulaski County and Pulaski County Public Schools will award $600 in gift cards each month until the program ends in June.
As part of the program, trash collectors are asked to take before and after photos of the areas they’ve cleared and send them to Chairwoman Laura Walters at lwalters@pulaskicounty.org. The photos will then be shared on social media.
Reflective vests, trash pincers, gloves and trash bags for the One Bag Challenge can be picked up at the County Administration Building at no cost to the participant.
Public Hearings
The first public hearing on the agenda involved a budget adjustment of $3,012,135.07.
“This is to carry over the ARPA funding that we have received from last year and some additional funding we have received in the current fiscal year,” said Newby in her last public appearance as Pulaski County’s Finance Director.
Two million dollars of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money will go towards funding the broadband deployment project, which is a public/private partnership formed with All Points Broadband. The sheriff’s department will receive more than $400,000 of this money to buy new equipment and nearly half a million dollars of these funds will be used for E911 Office Renovations.
No one spoke in opposition to the budget adjustment and it passed on a unanimous vote.
Animal Ordinance
The next public hearing involved amending the county’s animal control ordinance, which is related to the tethering of dogs. According to the amendment, “No dog shall be tethered outdoors for more than three hours a day. Dogs may be tethered on more than one occasion in a day, but the total time the dog is tethered in a day shall never exceed three hours.”
No one came to speak at the public hearing, but Supervisor Jeff Reeves mentioned that state code stipulates that dogs could not be tethered at temperatures below freezing and above 85 degrees. He added that state code imposed no restrictions on the amount of time a dog could be tethered if given proper shelter and protection from predators.
County Attorney Tim Kirtner agreed that this county ordinance goes above and beyond the state code.
“This particular amendment to our animal control ordinance doesn’t just concern itself with whether there’s adequate shelter for the dogs,” Kirtner explained. “It concerns itself with what kind of living conditions do we want to see dogs in? I mean, do you want to see those situations where you’ve got a 25-foot square dirt spot around the doghouse and that’s the condition that dogs are kept in or not.”
Both Supervisors Dirk Compton and Mike Mooney expressed concerns about enforcement of this ordinance and said that they hoped animal control would work with dog owners to bring them into compliance and not immediately fine them.
“Absolutely,” replied Julie Webb of Pulaski Animal Control
The tethering amendment of the county’s Animal Control Ordinance passed on a vote of four to one with Reeves voting against. These new tethering restrictions will go into effect on May 1.
Old Giles Road Large Truck Ban
The next public hearing involved a request from the Town of Dublin for the county’s support in banning large trucks from using the Old Giles Road (Route 746) between Broad Street and Route 100. The concern is that this stretch of road is mostly residential and several individuals have stated that this road is not appropriate for heavy truck traffic.
The Town of Dublin already passed this resolution, but since part of the road runs through the county, it was requested that the Pulaski County Supervisors pass a companion ordinance.
No one spoke at the public hearing other than Supervisor Mike Mooney, who said that he drove a tanker truck along this route, expressed his concerns about the ordinance.
“I don’t really think that tractor trailers are coming down Giles Avenue, just for a shortcut,” said Mooney. “I think it’s a safety thing. I think they’re coming to that stoplight so they can make a safe turn on Route 11 heading north.”
Mooney went on to say that exiting Route 100 at Dublin to go north on Route 11 required vehicles to cross two lanes of traffic, which could potentially cause a dangerous traffic back up.
The Supervisors asked David Clark of VDOT to study the traffic issue and report his findings at a subsequent meeting. The resolution was tabled until then.
Communications Tower
The next public hearing involved a request for a Special Exemption permit to allow a 150-foot communications tower to be built at 3610 Robinson Tract Road. Lloyd McCarthy brought forth the request on behalf of Towers LLC.
Markie Saunders of the Pulaski County Planning and Zoning Office explained that the Town of Pulaski owns the 1.5-acre property and maintains a water tank there. The tracts surrounding the proposed tower are all zoned Low Density Residential. Saunders also stated that the erection of this tower would improve wireless communication in underserved areas of the county, including Robinson Tract.
A meeting of the Pulaski County Planning Commission held earlier in the month approved the Special Exemption permit.
Tristan Hickman, who said she represented her aunt and her mother, as well as several residents who live adjacent to the property, spoke in opposition to the construction of the communications tower. Hickman expressed her concern about the potential health risks associated with 5G technology and said there was a “plethora” of research supporting the idea that radiation from these towers causes a variety of severe illnesses.
Lloyd McCarthy said that the institutions of government and professional organizations that studied the matter found no ill health effects related to the towers. McCarthy also stressed how this tower would improve wireless communications in an underserved section of the county. McCarthy was awarded a Special Use Exemption to build a communications tower on Deer Trot Lane at last month’s meeting of the supervisors.
Chairwoman Laura Walters stated that she and other supervisors have studied potential health effects of wireless technology, but said just using a cell phone is potentially risky.
Supervisor Jeff Reeves said that the Mines Road in the Robinson Tract area has little to no cell reception. Other supervisors agreed that better cell phone service was needed throughout Pulaski County.
Supervisors unanimously voted to approve the Special Use Exemption to build the telecommunication tower.
Solar Ordinance
For the final public hearing of the evening, Saunders presented the board with a Pulaski County Solar Ordinance as an amendment to the county’s Unified Development Ordinance.
According to the document provided by Saunders, “The Purpose of this ordinance is to provide for and regulate the siting, developmental, construction, installation, operation and decommissioning of solar energy facilities in the county in a manner that promotes economic development, and the safe, effective and efficient use of facilities while protecting the health, safety and welfare of the community and to avoid adverse impacts on county resources.”
Noting that Pulaski County currently had no Solar Ordinance, Supervisor Mike Mooney said that it was important that this be adopted.
“I think it is incredibly thorough,” said Supervisor Reeves of the Solar Ordinance.
The Supervisors voted to unanimously approve the Solar Ordinance. Details regarding Pulaski County’s first Solar Ordinance can be found on the Pulaski County website.
Pulaski County Free Store
The Citizen comment portion of the meeting brought Hazel Wines, President of the Pulaski County Free Store (PCFS) board to the podium. She was the first of many who spoke in support of the Free Store. Wines and other PCFS volunteers thanked supervisors for providing the Dublin Middle School as a temporary home for their organization and implored the board to continue supporting their organization. Members of the PCFS are looking for a permanent location to base their operations and have asked the county to aid them in their goal.
Supervisors praised the PCFS volunteers for their efforts.
Roads, Delinquent Taxes, DMS property
- Duane A. Van Antwerp, Fairway and Draper Ridge Estates HOA President, inquired about road improvements at that development and subsequently made arrangements to meet with Supervisor Dirk Compton to discuss the matter.
- Pulaski County Treasurer Melinda Worrell took her turn at the podium to ask for permission to post delinquent property tax notices in both The Patriot and The Southwest Times newspapers and this permission was granted.
- The supervisors voted to approve a budget calendar, which sets date to review the 2024-2025 county budget.
- Next, the board voted to designate the 19.5-acre Dublin Middle School property as a Revitalization Area. This allows the county’s Economic Development Authority, which owns the property, to offer the developer (Landmark), a 50 percent reduction on real estate taxes over a five-year time span.
The plan is to turn Dublin Middle School into housing units for individuals with low/moderate incomes.
The Supervisors subsequently designated Pulaski Village, on Memorial Drive, as a Revitalization Area, making these moderate-income housing units more attractive to developers who renovate properties.
- The Pulaski County Supervisors are set to meet the Pulaski County School Board in a closed session on Friday to discuss upcoming joint projects.