December Board highlights

 

Goochland Supervisors held their last regular monthly meeting on December 5. The day was bittersweet as it began with tributes to outgoing supervisors Susan Lascolette, Ken Peterson, and John Lumpkins, and moved on to more routine matters.

County Administrator Vic Carpenter reported that the annual Christmas Tree lighting was a well attended magical event enjoyed by all.

Last month, a resident of the Reed Marsh community contended that the Board needed to revisit its decision to allow construction traffic to use Reed Marsh Lane as the primary access road for the Rural Hill subdivision. Carpenter said that staff considered the impact of new construction traffic, as well as the traffic impact analysis studies commissioned for that project and that Reed Marsh residents attended that meeting. Carpenter said that the supervisors weighed all pertinent information before making their decision and the matter is closed.

Santa will call at least 110 kids next week to make their holidays extra special.

County offices will close at noon on December 22 and reopen for normal hours on December 26. Convenience centers will be closed on Christmas, but reopen on December 26, which Carpenter said, “is the busiest garbage day of the year.”

A public hearing on zoning ordinance amendment was deferred until February 6 for additional fine tuning.

Fire-Rescue

D. E. “Eddie” Ferguson Jr., Goochland’s Chief of Fire-Rescue and Emergency services made his bimonthly report, which can be viewed in its entirety beginning on page 52 of the board packet https://goochlandcountyva.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1417&Inline=True

Goochland Fire-Rescue is looking for new volunteers. He reminded everyone to use caution with Christmas decorations and that every home should have at least one working smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detector in place. If you need a smoke alarm, call the fire-rescue office at 1-804-556-5304 to request one at no charge.

Ferguson thanked the board for the initiative to start the Sandy Hook Fire-Rescue Station on Whitehall Road. EMS units deployed from that location have drastically reduced response times.

Santa Runs, when the Jolly Elf tours parts of Goochland on Fire Engines are coming up in the next few weeks.

Elections

Goochland’s General Registrar Ryan Mulligan, with Electoral Board Chair Pamela Johnson and Vice Chair Robert Walker, reported on last month’s elections. Of Goochland’s 22,328 registered voters, 12,884 cast ballots for an approximately 58 percent turnout. Mulligan said that the election went pretty smoothly. Precinct 402, St. Mathew’s Church in District 4 reported long lines on election day. That poling place, said Mulligan, currently has about 3,980 voters and is growing fast as people move into District 4. He indicated that something has to be done about adding a new polling place in District 4 before next year’s presidential election.

 

Mulligan alluded to “some pretty unacceptable behavior by candidates on election day and the day before while setting up tents. It was just not a good look for Goochland County.” He said it may cause a polling place to decline to participate in future elections.

Absentee voting beings January 19 for the presidential primary; with Congressional primaries later in the spring and the general election in November.

Board Reports

Finance Committee The county finance committee met before the board meeting to receive the completed Annual Certified Financial Report for fiscal year 2023, which ended on June 30, from external auditors PBMares. As has been the case for the last several years, the audit was clean and will be filed with the state by its December 15 deadline.

Central Virginia Transportation Authority

Board chair Neil Spoonhower, District 2, who represents Goochland on the CVTA, a regional board that prioritizes transportation projects and funding, said that there will be a significant amount of turnover on that agency in the coming year. He said that a member of that Board Patricia Page, a New Kent County supervisor who recently passed away will be missed. “She was a great friend of mine and a force to be reckoned with. She got to see the shovel go into the ground for the I64 widening through New Kent. Our prayers go out to her and her family. She was a great ally for us and the region as well as a hell of a biker and wonderful fisherman.”

ACFR

Mike Garber, a principal with PBMares, presented the county’s annual certified financial statement, which had no findings, a clean audit. Garber commended Director of Finance Carla Cave, her staff and county staff in general for their fine work in managing the county’s fiscal affairs.

Garber also bid farewell to Lascolette, Peterson, and Lumpkins. He said that, unlike some of his other governing board clients who rarely comment on financial reports, Goochland’s outgoing supervisors always asked questions for clarification and learning. Garber also said that he believes that citizens do not fully understand how much money the county’s “triple triple” earning three AAA bond ratings saves them when debt it issued. He pointed out that those bond ratings are not “handed out easily” and starts from the top with the county administrator and supervisors adopting fiscal policies that make the county stronger.

Broadband

The monthly broadband update included a presentation by Gary Wood, President and CEO of Firefly Fiber Broadband. Wood gave a brief update on progress being made expanding Firefly broadband availability in Goochland. (See the board packet, starting on page 67 for details).

Dominion Energy is awaiting approval by the State Corporation Commission to get permission to lease their lines to Firefly for connection to users. Wood estimated that this would happen by next April. Now that elections are over, the General Assembly needs to get its act together and appoint new commissioners to the SCC so it can end these regulatory log jams.

Wood then discussed other opportunities to connect those without broadband access in all parts of the county. He displayed this map (insert screen shot). The blue areas are covered by the various broadband expansion projects. The red dots, however, represent other areas with no service. Some of these dots are locations with very long driveways that Comcast will not serve.

Red "freckles" are underserved locations

Wood said that they’re looking at a way to connect those “freckles”, which are between 800 and 1,000 that Comcast cannot serve. Wood asked the board for a letter of support for this initiative and “a little bit of money” to lay fiber and connect those locations. Wood said the request from Goochland would be about $250k, which is about $260 per “passing”. He expects that enough new customers who have no other broadband options will connect so that Firefly can break even. This will put fiber on most major roads and allow Firefly to pick up these users. This would also include an additional application for grant funding from the Virginia Telecommunications Act (VATI). Wood said that Firefly will not ask Goochland for more money.

 

The Board voted unanimously to authorize the county administrator to execute a letter of support for the 2024 VATI grant, which is due December 19, 2023.

Lascolette thanked Wood. “I personally feel this is the best partnership that Goochland could have wished for.”

First quarter general fund projections

Cave said that projections indicate that revenues for the first quarter of FY 24, which ended on September 30, will be approximately $700k higher than estimates. This is due to an increase in real estate tax receipts and interest being higher than expected.  Numbers will be clearer in February after December tax payments are recorded.

Eagle Scouts

The supervisors commended Rainer Schmitz, Noah Wensel, and Luca Gardner, members of Boy Scout Troop 710, for attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. Troop 710 was also recognized for installation of its 100th Eagle Scout.

 

Public hearings

·       Amendments to the FY24 budget required public hearings under state law because they total more than one percent of budgeted expenditures. The items are appropriation of $589,058 in the capital improvement fund for sidewalks on both sides of the Fairground Road extension; appropriation of $744,860 in the capital improvement fund for the Hockett Road realignment fund; and appropriated of $1 million for site improvements to the property serving as the future location of the Sandy Hook Fire-Rescue station we approved.

·       Renewal of a conditional use permit for a place of public assembly and wedding venue on Sheppard Town Road for 15 years was approved.

·       Renewal of a CUP by Andrew Swift to operate sales and service for automobiles and farm equipment at 1269 Broad Street Road in Oilville was approved.

·       Rezoning application filed by Boone Homes for three acres on Blair Road from A-2 to R-3 to essentially add three lots to the Blair Estates subdivision was approved.

·       A rezoning application filed by Raymond Moore for 16.059 acres on Rockford Road from A-2 to R-1 to create a six-lot subdivision was denied.

·       A rezoning application filed by Towne & Country Realty Partners LLC for 55.207 acres on the west side of Hockett Road from A-2 to RPUD to create a 51 single family subdivision was approved.

·       Addition of the parcels in the Hockett Road subdivision to the Tuckahoe Creek Service District was approved.

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A recording of the meeting in its entirety is available on the county website https://www.goochlandva.us/ under “watch county meetings.”