At a regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Warren held in the Warren County Government Center on February 7, 2012 at 9:00 a.m. Present: Archie A. Fox, Chairman (Fork District); Linda P. Glavis, Vice-Chairman (South River District); Tony F. Carter, (Happy Creek District); Daniel J. Murray, Jr. (North River District); Richard H. Traczyk, (Shenandoah District); also Douglas P. Stanley, County Administrator; Blair D. Mitchell, County Attorney; Robert B. Childress, Deputy County Administrator; Carolyn W. Stimmel, Finance Director; Taryn G. Logan, Planning Director; Dan N. Whitten, Assistant County Attorney; Matt Wendling, Planner; Janice C. Standridge, Deputy Clerk of the Board; Kim Walter, Northern Virginia Daily; Roger Bianchini, Warren County Report and Angelle Barbazon, Warren Sentinel Absent: None Adoption of Agenda - Additions or Deletions Mr. Stanley asked that the Board add to the agenda “Special Recognition.” Mr. Mitchell asked that item L-4 “Resolution Supporting House Bill 111” be deleted as that legislation had been deferred until next year. On a motion by Mr. Traczyk, seconded by Mrs. Glavis, and by the following vote, the Board of Supervisors adopted the agenda as amended: Aye: Carter, Fox, Glavis, Murray, Traczyk Special Recognition – Archie Fox/Doug Stanley Mr. Stanley commented that the sponsorship program for Warren County’s 175th Anniversary enabled the Anniversary Planning Committee to fund the entire program without the use of taxpayers’ dollars. He thanked all the sponsors, particularly Warren Memorial Hospital as a Shenandoah River level sponsor and presented Patrick Nolan, CEO of Warren Memorial with a Kunstler print entitled, “On to the Shenandoah.” 1 Report - Virginia Department of Transportation – Ed Carter/ Clifford Balderson Mr. Ed Carter, Residency Program Manager for the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), reported the following: Maintenance Completed in January Pipe replacement along Routes 613 and 630. Grading operations on Routes 610, 613, 616, 622, 628, and 635. Shoulder repair on Route 628. Brush cutting and tree trimming along Routes 619, 55 West, 55 East, and 340. Mowing operations. Responded to minor snow and ice events. Began litter pickup with contractors as requested by the Board. Repaired gates on Route 624 at the low-water bridge that had been vandalized. Plans included the replacement of the wooden posts and gates with steel pipes and bars as soon as possible. Work Planned for February Continue grading operations on non-hard surfaced roads. Pipe replacement on Routes 601 and 613. Litter pickup along various routes. Brush cutting along various routes. Projects Route 655 (Country Club Road) - Striping will be completed as soon as weather permitted. Route 681 (Luray Avenue) – Will be advertised February 28, 2012. Route 55 Turning Lanes – VDOT was securing the easements for utility relocation and had contacted PVD Acquisitions, Inc. regarding the right-of-way needed at Panorama Memorial Cemetery. Route 340/522 Signal at McDonald’s/Hampton Inn Entrance – Currently in preliminary engineering stage. They would be addressing issues with spacing requirements at the interchange at a meeting February 9, 2012 with FHWA. Eastham Trail Phase 2 – 30% plans were being reviewed. Routes 340 and 675 (Success Road) Turning Lane – Currently in 2 preliminary engineering stage. Route 603 (Oregon Hollow Road) – Preliminary staking for design work underway. Route 624 Morgan Ford Bridge – Status unchanged. Route 613 Bridge – Status unchanged. Route 340/522 South Fork Bridge – Status unchanged. Mr. Tony Carter asked that Oregon Hollow Road be added to the list of roads for litter pickup if it was not already included. He stressed the importance of efforts to prevent littering. Mr. Ed Carter noted that Mr. Tony Carter had inquired about the shoulder under the trestle on Route 55 East, and VDOT would be addressing that on an intermediate basis now and on a more permanent basis later. Mr. Fox asked if VDOT could do a traffic count on the northern end of Panhandle Road where the road was still gravel to address a future upgrade. In response to an inquiry from Mr. Tony Carter, Mr. Balderson said the minimum cost of a speed study was approximately $5,000, the Rockland Area Speed Study cost about $15,000, and the funds came from traffic engineering. Mr. Carter added that the traffic engineering funds was a cost center amount set up for each county. Mr. Balderson reported that the Rockland Area Speed Study involved Routes 624, 661, and 658. The Study did not warrant a speed limit reduction for Routes 624 and 661. The Study did warrant a reduction on Rockland Road from its intersection with Route 661 and Route 624 from 45 mph to 35 mph. He explained that speed studies could be arbitrary by nature because some people did not drive the speed limit, they drove at the speed they felt comfortable. He pointed out that the speed limit posted would not make a difference to the speed motorists traveled unless it was enforceable. Ms. Mary Ryan asked if it would be possible to obtain speed limit analyses from other areas including Clarke County with lower speed limits with similar conditions as the Rockland area and Mr. Ed Carter said he would be happy to provide those to Ms. Ryan. 3 Report – Economic Development Authority – Jennifer McDonald Ms. Jennifer McDonald, Executive Director of the Economic Development Authority (EDA), reported that the EDA had closed on the last property for the Leach Run Parkway. Until the final engineering report was completed, they would probably not acquire any more property. The EDA Board was working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the revised covenants for the Avtex site. The EPA would not require a fence between the local connector road and the remainder of the site, which will result in a savings of more than $100,000 to the Town of Front Royal. The EDA Board was working with three distribution companies, one manufactory company, one technology company, and one retail company. The distribution companies were considering the Kelley Industrial Park, the Stephens Industrial Park, and the Happy Creek Industrial Park. The retail company was considering Main Street. Report – Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee – Patrick Farris/Suzanne Silek On behalf of the Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee, Mr. Wendling reported the following: The Committee will host a lecture April 13 and 14 at the Holiday Inn entitled, “Brother against Brother, the Legacy of the Battle of Front Royal.” General Jack Marsh and Dan Toomey author of “Hero at Front Royal: The Life of General John R. Kenly” will be present. A commemorative tree planting event will also be scheduled at Fairview on April 14. In May the Committee will host enhanced tours of the Front Royal battlefield on May 23 and 25 with living history impressionists. The Mort Kunstler print, “On Chester Street,” will be unveiled and made available for public sale in May. The Committee will be looking at all grant opportunities. The Committee was hopeful that funds would be raised for a Civil War Trails marker for the Battle of Wapping Heights in the Linden area and an updated brochure for the driving tour of Civil War sites in Warren County. 4 A Sesquicentennial Conference will be held on March 3, 2012 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Shenandoah University on perspectives on Stonewall Jackson’s Valley Campaign with a number of speakers. There would be a $20.00 fee. Anyone interested in the above events may obtain information from the Front Royal Tourism Center or at www.shenandoahatwar.org. Report - Warren County Department of Social Services – Beth Reavis Ms. Beth Reavis, Director of the Warren County Department of Social Services, reported the following: The number of caseloads had increased slightly, which resulted in increased workload. Three positions had been filled. Workers were on night call, which was a deterrent in filling positions. Some larger localities had divisions devoted to night calls. DSS was restructuring its services division by creating a senior management position to integrate child protective cases and foster care as well as looking for alternatives for long- term solutions and preventing foster care. In response to an inquiry from Mr. Fox, Ms. Reavis stated that there were still two vacancies in management, which had been advertised. She thought the department might be able to promote within to fill these positions, which would then open the two lower positions. Employees left DSS for various reasons including increased pay, shorter commutes, reduced caseloads, etc. Public Presentations – Public Presentations are limited to issues that are not the subject of a public hearing. It is intended as an opportunity for the public to give input on relevant issues and not intended as a question and answer period. Ms. Melissa Chappell-White, 140 Dogwood Farm Road, noted that the new management of the Shenandoah Farms Sanitary District started very well. She said this slowed down over the past year and came to grinding halt this past fall. She said no one had seen the Sanitary District Manager since the last snow 5 and ice storm in October. She submitted a letter requesting an investigation of the Shenandoah Farms Sanitary District management and a report on the following: 1. Detailed itemization, records, and documentary support for all expenditures to date. 2. Detailed itemization, records, and documentary support for all activities performed by the Shenandoah Farms Sanitary District Manager since his hiring. 3. Detailed itemization, records, and documentary support for all road study activities. She noted that the Property Owners of Shenandoah Farms were promised full accountability for their tax dollars, a full-time manager, and a road study; but they had received none of these. She asked for a report on these items in about a month.