Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 7, 1995 TAG: 9507070037
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: B. LYNN WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Medium
The Board of Supervisors expects to get even more bills as a result of the June 27 storm.
The county has been designated a disaster area, which will make it eligible for federal funding to help with the cleanup.
Bob McCracken, county school superintendent, told supervisors that the deluge also caused severe damage to Macy McClaugherty Elementary School, which will be covered by insurance. He also foresaw no difficulty in completing repairs before school starts.
Many old records - some from the 1800s - in the archival area of the School Board Administrative Building were submerged in as much as six feet of water. McCracken said the water damage would limit any requests for records to the past two years, for quite some time.
Three rows full of senior citizens attended the meeting to voice their support for Betty Letsinger, director of the Giles County Senior Center.
The group was responding to an earlier delegation of seniors, which on June 20 had complained to the board that Letsinger shouldn't be paid to take center patrons to an indoor pool during the workday. The 25 seniors who came Wednesday said the pool trips were a part of her duties.
Carl Patteson, a Glen Lyn resident and member of the Senior Center Advisory Board, compared Letsinger taking patrons for water therapy at a Blacksburg pool to sending seventh-graders off on a Williamsburg-Washington field trip. You wouldn't send the children off unchaperoned, he said.
Clara Vest echoed Patteson's remarks. She said the director should be supervising patrons on the tri-weekly trip. "I think she needs to be with them," Vest said.
"We need to help the director with her programs," Vest told the
board, "and quit this quarreling among ourselves."
Vest concluded that Letsinger is doing a fine job. Besides, she said, "life is too short" for this kind of conflict.
Supervisor Bobby Compton asked Vest if she had a solution that would satisfy both groups. She responded that if she did, she would have already tried it.
Supervisor Hub Brown said it was necessary for the director to accompany patrons to the pool because of the county's liability.
Patteson gave Letsinger a ringing endorsement. "I think we have the best director we've ever had," he stated.
In other business, the Planning Commission recommended the board approve amendments to the subdivision ordinance and the erosion and sediment ordinance, which the board did after some discussion.
The change in the subdivision law allows a landowner to transfer
several acres from a larger parcel without having the entire tract "perked" for septic approval.
Building Inspector John Mills told supervisors that several land
transfers have been held up until this change occurred. He said that a landowner with 100 acres wanted to deed two acres to his son so the son could build a house but wanted the other 98 acres to remain in pasture.
Under the old ordinance, the entire parcel would have had to be tested before the two acres could be transferred.
The erosion and sediment ordinance revision brings the county law into compliance with the state's. Virginia law requires that if a person disturbs 10,000 square feet of land, he is required to apply for an erosion and sediment control permit. Before, the county ordinance specified that disturbing only 5,000 feet required the permit.
Board members went into executive session for about and hour and a half to discuss personnel, a convenience center for disposal of large household appliances, and contracts about it.
They approved $2,836 to be paid to the Virginia Department of Transportation for work at the convenience center. They also voted to accept bids to replace a leaky roof at the jail, specifying that it must be metal.
by CNB