December board highlights

The Goochland Board of Supervisors held its last monthly meeting of 2020 on December 1.

Presiding over her final meeting as board chair, District 1 Supervisor Susan Lascolette summed up this very strange time.

“It’s been quite a year. On March 26, in response to Covid, we declared a state of emergency and passed a continuity of government resolution, which is still in effect. We survived and thrived. We found new ways of doing things to make sure that everyone gets the services they need. We approved cell towers and entered into a partnership with Central Virginia Electric Coop to expand broadband.”

The county submitted grant applications for a $12 million investment that could connect an additional 1,187 additional homes and businesses by 2023. The county, said Lascolette, did two budgets this year—before and after Covid—yet kept real estate and ad valorem tax rates level, lowered the personal property tax rate, and increased the allowance for elderly and disabled tax credit, and received a clean audit. This was made possible by everyone on staff paying attention to all the details. She thanked everyone for their hard work to keep Goochland going.

The supervisors will hold a public hearing at their January 5 meeting on an ordinance to permit paying bonuses to county and school employees.

Following the March resignation of John Budesky, the county launched a nationwide search for his successor. Kenneth A. “Kenny” Young was named county administrator and started work on September 14. The board, said Lascolette, appreciates the fine job that Derek Stamey did as interim county administrator during July and August. He dealt with hurricanes during a pandemic.

Lascolette said she could not be “more proud” of Goochland public safety.  Sheriff Steven Creasey, who took office on January 1, and Mike Watkins who became Deputy Fire-Rescue Chief-EMS to succeed Eddie Ferguson who now serves as Chief, have done an outstanding job of serving the citizens during the pandemic.

 She praised the school board, “wow!” and school division for its careful response to the unprecedented challenges posed by Covid.

Lascolette noted that throughout the lockdown the work of the County continued with ribbon cuttings; clean up days; and DMV Select carrying on through it all. She lamented cancellation of the Independence Day fireworks but lauded the success of the modified fall festival. Our general registrar and electoral board overcame many challenges to hold a successful election.

Looking forward to 2021, Lascolette said that redistricting, resulting from the 2020 census, will change local voting districts. Hopefully, there will be another trip to New York City for the county to secure a hat trick third triple A bond rating—a rare accomplishment for a county the size of Goochland—and a possible bond referendum in November to fund needed infrastructure. In closing, Lascolette thanked her fellow supervisors for the opportunity to serve as board chair. (To hear her remarks in their entirety, see the recording of the December 1 meeting at https://www.goochlandva.us/943/Video-of-Past-BOS-Meetings beginning at the 14:26 minute mark)

Due to Covid travel restrictions placed on state employees, no VDOT representative attended the meeting.

Fire-Rescue and emergency services

In addition to its ongoing response to the pandemic, Goochland Fire-Rescue dealt with major flooding in the county as the result of heavy rains around November 12. The 23-foot crest of the James River was the highest since 2003. Fire-Rescue, in its emergency management role, continues to partner with many agencies including the Goochland Sheriff’s Office, schools, the Chickahominy Health Department, and several social service organizations.

Goochland EMS providers, explained Ferguson, wear a high level of PPE including N95 respirators when interacting with patients. Transport of Covid patients to area hospitals requires extensive decontamination of equipment after each call, which increases both the length of the call and time that units are out of service for cleaning.

New emergency apparatus will join the Goochland fleet in coming months. A 2,500-gallon tanker will be assigned to Courthouse Company 5 in late December. A new ambulance will be delivered in March, and the long-awaited ladder truck, which will be housed at Manakin Company 1, to serve the east end is expected in May. A new boat for water rescue, also for Company 1 will arrive in summer.

Mike Harmon was appointed as the supervisors’ liaison to the Fire-Rescue Association Board of Directors.

 (To see the entire report, go to the December 1 board packet http://goochlandcountyva.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1280&Inline=True starting on page 63.

Health Department

Dr. Thomas Frank, Health Director of the Chickahominy Health District, which includes the Goochland County Health Department, presented his agency’s annual report to the supervisors. (it begins on the past recorded meeting about the 1:53 mark.) The CHD provides clinical services; environmental health inspections; and special programs.

Goochland ranked 10 out of 133 jurisdictions for its health outcomes, which includes longevity.

The opioid epidemic is ongoing and has not getting better, said Frank, but the focus this year was Covid response.

As of November 30, Goochland had 451 cases of Covid since March (the count on December 10 according to the Virginia Department of Health (https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus/covid-19-in-virginia/ is 497). It was the highest it’s ever been and continues to climb; the positivity percentage doubled in a week. He attributed the increase, in part, to Covid fatigue. Frank said that of the 451 on November 30, 11 cases were open, 433 closed. He did not define open or closed. There have been 7 deaths attributed to Covid in Goochland since March, the last was recorded on July 28. To date, since March, 37 Goochlanders have been hospitalized according to the VDH website.

“Cases” means confirmed and probable, explained Frank. Confirmed is a positive PCR test, probable is someone who has symptoms or is linked to a confirmed case. Frank contended that the PCR test is the “gold standard”. He admitted that the timing of the identification of a positive case can be hard to pinpoint and there may be “quite a bit of lag” in reporting. Frank said the most prevalent incubation period is between four to six or seven days. The best time to get tested is to wait four or more days after suspected exposure with no symptoms.

The CHD has conducted Covid testing and flu shot clinics in Goochland, the last on November 11. These are believed to be “dry runs” for distribution of Covid vaccines.