The NewsLeader reported on the BOS vote on the Panhandling issue and once again we have interesting material. Looking at the comments in the NewsLeader comment section it seems many of the locals have seen the same people at the corners from day to day and in fact many of these "Panhandlers" are doing pretty good for themselves.......     Augusta County panhandling restrictions don't pass Written by Calvin Trice Nov. 15

newsleader.com

VERONA — People can panhandling pretty much as they have been in Augusta County after a proposed ordinance to limit aggressive solicitations went begging at the county Board of Supervisors Wednesday night.

The change would have prohibited aggressive solicitations and asking for money in most public places, near banks, ATMs and on private property without permission. Chairman Tracy Pyles Jr. thought the county would have gone against the flow of federal case law by adopting the restrictions. “All over the place, the federal courts are saying, you’re violating the Constitution by doing this,” Pyles said.

Supervisors rejected the proposal by a 3-4 vote, after a 15-minute public hearing. One citizen spoke in favor and two opposed. Supervisors David Beyeler, David Karaffa and Jeffrey Moore voted for the measure.

Supervisor Michael Shull said he couldn’t support the proposal because he was taught that people should be good Samaritans. Beverley Manor Supervisors David Karaffa supported the change for safety. The community provides many resources for those who are down and out, Karaffa said prior to the vote. “There are plenty of ways that our community embraces those who are in need,” he said.

“This is like using a canon to kill a cricket,” one said. People can always just say no. What about the Liberty tax guy in front of the . “He looks pretty aggressive to me,” the resident said. The proposed ordinance would have defined aggressive as touching someone, blocking their free movement, approaching them in a way that appears threatening.

Carwashes couldn’t have signs too close to the streets, but it wouldn’t have affect things like bake sales, which wouldn’t ask for funds in an aggressive manner, Morgan said

The "Gang-of-three" takes their show on the road....

Looks like Chairman Pyles has taken his show on the road with the help of his "Pocket Supervisors" Karraffa and Pattie in the form of a "Political Breakfast" in Waynesboro. Comments by the "Gang-O-Three" were dutifully reported by the News Virginian but once again failed to seek comment from the remaining members of the Board of Supervisors. It can only be questioned how many readers of the NewsVirginian who picked up their morning paper to read this piece thought it was reporting of a official meeting instead of a "Political Breakfast" gathering.

 

Supervisors focus on economic development

Expanding businesses have the best hope of improving county finances

By: Bob Stuart | News Virginian
Published: September 23, 2012 Updated: September 23, 2012 - 12:48 AM

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Waynesboro, Va. --

Whatever is financially ailing Augusta County can be cured or at least modified by more economic development, a trio of county supervisors said during the SWAC Political Breakfast on Saturday.

The breakfast was conducted at Waynesboro’s Golden Corral Restaurant.

 

The supervisors spoke of how 2012 has included some economic highlights that will pay dividends to the county, including Mary Baldwin College’s selection of a Fishersville location for a new campus and graduate programs, and the recent announcement of McKee Baking in Stuarts Draft adding 78 jobs.

 

They also spoke of how County Economic Development Director Dennis Burnett has been given a free hand to aggressively promote and create more jobs for the county’s economy.

“If we don’t have jobs, we deteriorate,’’ said Board of Supervisors Chairman Tracy Pyles.

Since a new board took office in January, Pyles said the seven members have worked to reestablish strong relations with state economic development officials in Richmond. And Pyles said Augusta County has embraced the idea of regionalism — working with both Staunton and Waynesboro — to create jobs that benefit the entire area.

 

“If we are putting our resources together it works better,’’ Pyles said. He said Burnett and other county officials offered a vision of Augusta County to Mary Baldwin that helped sell the Staunton women’s college on the county as a location for their new Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences.

 

Pyles said Fishersville is becoming a health center that already includes a burgeoning Augusta Health and Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center.

 

And of McKee’s expansion, Pyles said “what Dennis (Burnett) asked for we provided. If he gets them on the hook, we land them.” The Stuarts Draft plant was competing with two other McKee locations for the manufacturing of the company’s mini doughnuts product.

 

North River Supervisor Marshall Pattie said the early meetings of the new board last winter involved lengthy closed sessions about new economic opportunities.

Beverley Manor Supervisor David Karaffa called Burnett “a tireless worker’’ who labors late into the night looking for more jobs. And he said the infrastructure for future development is in place at the county’s Mill Place Commerce Park in Verona.

“We are marketing it aggressively. It is a beautiful place to put your business,’’ he said.

On a different front, Karaffa expressed great confidence in the Roanoke area business performing the county’s new reassessment.

He said Wingate and Associates is Virginia’s most experienced reassessment provider.

Supervisors are also expected to decide on a strategic fire/rescue plan for the county at Wednesday’s meeting that entails how to deploy 21 new fire/rescue positions obtained under a federal SAFER grant.

 

Pattie said the new strategy will assure that the county does not have the ISO rating problems it had two years ago with the Preston L. Yancey Volunteer Fire Company in Fishersville.

Four say "NO" to term limits.....

Turns out four of the Supervisors feel that there is no need for BOS term limits for if their citizens want them replaced they will vote them out of office. We all know how well this works in Washington and by looking at some of the track history of some of our electeds in DC, we also know these guys get away with numerous acts but the incumbant always has the large advantage.

I hear Supervisors Beyeler, Karraffa, and Moore understand that we need citizens to stand up and serve their county but they should also not become entrenched in a long-term occupation where they focus more on re-election instead of doing what is right for the citizens.....

Think about the other four ....






.

Bonus for the County Team....

The NewsVirginian has copy on the possible plan for the BOS to vote on paying out a bonus package to the County staff. Good to see a surplus and I believe in paying out incentives for those who keep expenses down and save the taxpayers money.

Lets see what happens with the term limit issue... 

Augusta County supervisors to consider bonuses for employees

By: Bob Stuart | News Virginian
Published: August 21, 2012 Updated: August 21, 2012 - 7:30 AM

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VERONA, Va. -- Augusta supervisors will discuss Wednesday night a bonus for county employees based on a surplus in the 2012 budget.

Supervisors are considering either a bonus based on a percentage of the employee’s pay, or one that pays $1,000 to full-time employees and $500 to part-timers.

During a Monday staff briefing, Augusta County Finance Director Jennifer Whetzel said that a $635,539 balance remained from the recent budget year, which ended June 30.

Middle River District Supervisor Larry Wills suggested the idea of a bonus as recent county budgets have not included pay increases for workers.

Wills also said that frugal spending by county employees led to the surplus.

Supervisor David Karaffa, who represents the Beverley Manor District, said he would prefer that the surplus funds go to help the county’s schools.

He noted the release of Standards of Learning scores last week, and the difficulty students had on some of the tests. County school administrators said that the scores were lower on a newly designed math test aimed at examining critical thinking.

“The fund balance would be better in the schools,” Karaffa said.

Board Chairman Tracy Pyles said he prefers a bonus for employees.

“Every department brought money back,” Pyles said of the tightened spending by the county’s government.

Also during Monday’s briefing, Karaffa said he would like his colleagues to consider adding term limits for supervisors to the county’s legislative agenda for 2013.

South River District Supervisor David Beyeler proposed a three-term limit for supervisors at a meeting two weeks ago.

But state legislation would be needed to allow Augusta County to impose the limits.

Such legislation previously has been approved by the General Assembly, notably when state Sen. Emmett Hanger sponsored a bill to extend the county’s reassessment time to include an option of every six years.

O.K., So how about term limits?....

It seems now we have Supervisor Beyeler bringing up the idea of term limits for the BOS so that no one member becomes "entrenched" in the position and almost impossible to replace. And this coming from one of the so called "Good old boy" members?.....

 

Beyeler wants term limits for supervisors

By Bob Stuart

Augusta County Supervisor David Beyeler told his colleagues this past week he wants term limits for county supervisors.

With too much power accumulating in long-tenured politicians, Beyeler said he supported a three-term limit after Wednesday’s meeting.

Term limits for politicians started in ancient Greece and Rome, and today 36 states limit the terms of their governors and 15 state legislatures have term limits.

Term limits have been debated at the federal level, but have only been set for the presidency.

The director of the Virginia Association of Counties, Jim Campbell, said he knows of no Virginia counties that impose term limits.

North River District Supervisor Marshall Pattie said term limits are not necessary because County supervisors are held accountable by voters.

“There are only 10,000 people in my district,’’ said Pattie, who answers telephone calls and emails from his constituents.

“They know us and see us at church,’’ he said. “The districts are divided nonpolitically. There is a lot of opportunity for someone to run a campaign without a lot of money and win.”

Beverley Manor Supervisor David Karaffa, who sees merit in Beyeler’s suggestion, said limiting terms may result in different types of representatives serving on the board.

“For a certain amount of time, a business person could serve. Maybe the next time a farmer would be allowed to represent,” he said. Or a retired police officer or firefighter could serve, he added.

Term limits “opens the opportunity for many people from many different walks of life to represent a district,” Karaffa said

Karaffa is married, a father and works at Augusta Health as an intensive care unit nurse. He said his predecessor, Jeremy Shifflett, brought a different perspective to the board.

“Beverley Manor benefited from having Jeremy on the board prior to me,” he said. He is a farmer. My history is in the health care field. I’m married and have children.”

A political expert weighs in

Local officials cannot hide in Richmond or Washington when they serve in the community they are elected in, said Quentin Kidd, a political science professor and chairman of the department of government at Christopher Newport University.

The losses from term limits are greater than the gains, Kidd said.

“You lose institutional history and know-how, which is very difficult to replace easily,’’ he said.

He said the importance of institutional history and know-how is not outweighed by the “potential for abuse from a retrenched office holder.”

But the impact of term limits is subject to debate and conflicting opinions, said Paul Wolf, who runs the Center for Reinventing Government in New York.

Pointing to the power of incumbency, Wolf said an incumbent has a high re-election probability because incumbents can raise more money than a challenger and have access to media.

An incumbent also has an advantage because he or she generally know more about the government than a challenger because incumbents are already in office, Wolf said.

It’s not clear whether supervisors, who will first tackle staggered terms at a public hearing Sept. 26, will consider acting on Beyeler’s suggestion.

BOS ""Split terms"... Justa roll of the dice or something worse?...

The NewsVirginian has an on-line report by Bob Stuart regarding the Augusta Board of Supervisors (BOS)  and Supervisor Pattie efforts to re-hash the “Split-term” issue that was a promise by the legendary “Gang-of-four” during the campaign. Unfortunately once again after clicking on the article to read it the familiar message window pops up advising the reader needs to fork over $5.95 to finish reading the article and open a month long on-line subscription.  Sorry but I just can’t justify $6 for a short article about local politics that should be supplied if this paper really wants to serve the community it is in… (Something Bob Stuart and I have corresponded about already)

It appears Supervisor Pattie has once again brought up the issue about split-terms instead of having all of the 7 BOS members come up to election every four years. 3 or 4 members would come up for re-election every two years instead and the thought there is a quicker change to the BOS majority being possible if the dice roll provides the desired result…

Could not see the answer in the on-line article before the pop-up window interrupts, but who decides which 3 or 4 BOS members have their four year term cut to two for this change to work? Will it be the decision of the outcome of a roll of the dice?  Or will it be the decision of Chairman Pyles and part of the “master plan”?... Maybe the opportunity for the “Gang-O-four” is only another two years away?...

County to tighten fire loan process

Departments must consult with lawyer

11:06 PM, Jul. Written by

Staff Report NewsLeader.com

VERONA — Augusta County is thinking of tightening up the rules for volunteer fire companies’ withdrawals from its revolving loan fund.
Going forward, fire departments seeking loans should make sure an attorney reviews any contracts with equipment suppliers, Fire-Rescue Chief Carson Holloway said in an internal memo earlier this month. The recommendation comes after Holloway and County Attorney Patrick Morgan reviewed a contract that Craigsville Volunteer Fire Department signed for a new pumper. The department is seeking $300,000 from the fund for the new equipment.
Holloway said he and Morgan “are both concerned that the majority of the contract favors the vendor.” But he noted that the Craigsville department has already signed a contract, and would have to pay a fee to cancel it. “We really need that equipment,” said Craigsville chief Wayne Martin.
Mike Fisher, chief of the Dooms Volunteer Fire Company, and former head of the county’s association of volunteer chiefs said it makes sense to require attorney review. “It’s something that should have been done all along,”