Board of Supervisors - Regular Meeting

You got to do something with the snow. 20s. Try not to Don't make too much.

Good afternoon and welcome to the Pennsylvania County Board of Supervisors work session. Today is Tuesday, January 20th, 2026, 4:30 p.m. Uh, we're at 39 Bank Street, Southeast Channel, Virginia, 24531. Madame Clerk, call the role, please. Yes, sir. Mr. Bowman, here. Mr. Brown, here. Mr. Dalton, here. Mr. Dudley, present. Mr. Whittle, here. Mr. Ingram, here. Mr. Tucker,

here. Thank you. All right. Um, any items to be added to the agenda? No items to be added. That being the case, I'll entertain a motion for the approval of the agenda. So move. Thank you, Mr. Bowman. Second.

Thank you, Mr. Ingram. Second. Approval of the agenda. Any discussion? Hearing none, please cast your votes. Motion passes unanimously for the citizens convenience. All work session and committee meetings in the same YouTube location can be uh locations as board of supervisors business meetings. Please remember that the board's work session is designed for internal board and county staff communication, discussion, and work. It is not a question and answer session with the audience. Accordingly, during the work session, no questions or comments from the audience will be entertained respectfully. Any outburst or disorderly conduct from the audience will not be tolerated, may result in the offending person's removal from the work session. As a reminder, all county citizens and other appropriate parties as designated by the board's bylaws are permitted to make comments under the hearing of the citizens section of tonight's business meeting. Thank you so much. Uh that moves us down to item or agenda five and we have any presentations? No presentations. Okay, we move to agenda item number six, Mr. Atcock, an overview discussion of landfill.

Good afternoon. Good afternoon, sir.

Today, I'd like to provide a short overview of current landfill equipment issues, the operational impacts to the landfill, and and the specific repairs we're requesting board approval for. As mentioned, we've had some recent equipment failures that have created some operational risk at the landfill. Uh our critical landfill equipment that those are our compactors and our dozers. We we have two of each and they're all of them are currently out of service with or operating with limitations. We're we're having to get rental equipment uh to maintain operations and we need to address uh some timely repairs to protect landfill capacity and also the revenue that we generate at the landfill. So the importance of our compactors uh that's a typical 836 compactor. That's uh our biggest unit. Um these are our most critical landfill machines. They uh they help to uh make sure we get good compaction in the cell and they extend the life of the cell which you you you guys understand that to create a cell is is a big expense. So to get the most life out of that cell is is is what we always u what our goal is poor compaction waste airspace and increase the operational costs. So, our current equipment, we have a 2015 Caterpillar 836. That's our largest piece of equipment. And we have a 2013 Caterpillar 826, which is a little bit smaller equipment. The A26 status, that is a 2013 model year. It's got approximately 16,300 operating hours on it. It has a loose center articulation joint, which if it turns in the middle, you've seen them operate. and it's kind of loose. So, we don't use it except in just very critical if if we have uh one of our other ones are down, we can run it, but we don't run it that often

because of of risk of of complete failure. So, it's uh it's a limited use and it's near the end of its service life. And both our staff and our consultant, our engineering consultant and landfill consultant recommend replacement of that unit. The A36 is a 2015 that was purchased as a complete rebuild in 2021. It has approximately 10,000 hours on it since we've purchased it, and it had about that same amount of hours on it before it was it was rebuilt. We've had some recent major uh repairs to it. We had an exhaust manifold repair in October that was 23,000. And then we had a an engine failure. So, we had to do a an engine removal and a diagnostic done at $22,000. And that diagnostic came back and said, "You need a new engine." And it so uh the county administrator recently approved the installation of a remanufactured engine and that's currently underway. The uh 836 the additional concerns on that are uh the compactor the wheel teeth are severely worn. About 20% life remaining on those wheel on the teeth. Uh, and what happens, those teeth help to shred and penetrate down the waist. And so if you have bad teeth, you get poor compaction, you get lost airspace, you get uh increased operating operating costs.

So the cost to recondition the wheels is 84,777. That's an estimate. Uh, and we're requesting board approval to to proceed with that. And I wanted to give you uh uh just a little financial uh analysis of the teeth. So based on u uh industry standard new teeth improve the compaction of about 5 to 10%. So our current phase and these are kind of uh approximates our current phase remaining airspace is approximately 500,000 cubic yards. And at our normal compaction rate, which is about 1300 pounds in a cubic yard, if if and and an average disposal rate assumed at 30 a ton, which is that's much less than the gate rate, but we have to average in, you know, that we're bringing in our trash for for zero dollars. And if we maintain our average compaction rate at 1300 lb per cubic yard, that potential revenue in that remaining airspace is about $9,750,000. So if we get a minimum of 5% improved efficiency with those new teeth, you're looking at a potential of $450,000 of additional revenue. So it looks so the the the payout is great with with the new teeth and and considering those uh the teeth. I know it sounds like a lot of money, but there's 160 teeth on that machine, that 836. So they have to go in and touch every one of those

either, you know, remove it and put a new tooth on it. So it's it's it's a very involved process. So looking at our dozers, um that's one of the larger dozers that we have. It's a D8 machine. Look, you don't have

We have uh currently we have a 2015 Caterpillar D6. It has approximately 13,500 hours. We have a 2015 Caterpillar D8 that has approximately 19,000 895 hours. That one was purchased as a rebuild as well. So, some of those hours were on the rebuilt machine before it was stripped down and rebuilt. Both of those dures are currently inoperable. Uh we have we're we're renting one to to maintain operations at about 9,000 per month. And and I forgot to mention uh for the compactors, I wanted to just give a shout out to First Pedmont. They are assisting us with a rental of one of their extra machines at $7,500 a month. And that just goes to show the good relationship we have with First Pedmont and and we're always working back and forth with them. But they have been very very good to us to allow us to use that machine. So the D8 has a final drive issue. the final drive. If you look at the uh the tracks, it's it's the circular thing at the top of the tracks that takes the the engine torque and it converts it to the tracks. So, that uh final drive has completely failed. Our first option to repair that is about $40,000. And that is only repairing what's gone bad inside of the final drive. There's a number of sprockets inside of that. So, uh, that only covers the replacement part and it's a longer down time because they have to go in and machine down the spindle that that all the sprockets connect to. And our option two, a little bit higher, 47 215. That gives us a one-year parts and labor warranty on the entire drive. That's a brand new drive. And it also gives us a little bit faster uh ability to return that to service because they could just take that off the shelf and

put it in there. So, that is another request for board uh approval and we would like to go with option two because we're getting a better warranty and we don't want to put that. Some of these repairs uh the the the materials are one thing, but the labor is so expensive. We don't want to have to go back through and take it all apart again just because one of the sprockets that we didn't replace fails. Uh and that's what you got to look at when you're looking at these repairs. The D6, which is our smaller dozer, uh, needs an undercarriage repair. During operations recently, we recently the tracks would not stay on during operation. So, the machine was transported to Carter Cat, who is the our CAT dealer that does all of our our maintenance on the machines for inspection. And it turns out that the undercarriage and tracks need to be replaced. So, estimated cost for that is 42,824. And we're also requesting board approval to replace those tracks. So, a summary of the repair request. The CAT 836 compactor, the wheel reconditioning is about 85,000. The D8 dozer, the final drive is about 47,000. And the D6 dozer undercarriage is another 43,000 roughly for a total request of $174,800. Um, and in closing, you know, these these repairs will improve our operational efficiency and extend our landfill life, which we're getting, you know, close to the end of phase two, the last cell in phase two. So, we want to maintain that life as long as possible. Uh, it would provide our muchneeded backup machine. So, right now, you know, we have one rental compactor and we have one rental dozer. So we we you know if something else goes down you know we're we're compacting trash with a dozer which is not very efficient but we have to keep operations moving along. Uh and it also will reduce our reliance

on on the rental equipment. So in closing I would like to request uh board approval for these repairs uh so that we can move forward and keep things running along as smoothly and efficiently as possible. Thank you, Mr. Duck. Any questions for Mr. Dott? Mr. Bowman?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Chris, these are these expenses here are I I look at it as routine maintenance. Um, and they're I mean we're looking at this as major repairs, but um I guess a couple of questions I have on this is we're in business. We're in the landfill business. We take, you know, uh refuge from other localities. And it's our responsibility to make sure that we have our equipment up and running. And you know, I'm kind of I mean, I look at this and I'm going, this is not good planning. uh we should be having we shouldn't have to go out and rent other equipment in my opinion uh from somebody else to continue doing the business that we are contracted to do through other localities. Um this is I'm I'm just at a quandry here. I know we have to do this. Uh we have to keep these pieces of equipment up and u I'm not real sure that the life expectancy here is going to get us to a point unless we start planning ahead and putting money in reserve uh to fix this equipment on a routine basis or purchase new equipment. Uh so I'm I don't want to say I'm disappointed in this but we're going through another budget cycle here again. Uh, Miss Vanderhy just gave us our um our want list, if you will, from all the departments and u this is a it's a huge I mean it's $200,000 but this is to keep the landfill in business as more than anything else. So, uh, I I'm I'm kind of at a Yeah, I'm kind of at a quandry here on why we get to these situations when I think some some

planning if it took place, we would be better off. Um, so I I know I'm just kind of Yeah, but I I hear this. I hear what you're saying. Yeah. But, um, I can I can tell you right now that u I'm kind of not happy. And I'll just say this with all departments. If you're coming to us with these last minute ask and request, um, then I'm going to tell you right now, it's I'm going to look at you as, you know, not doing your planning properly. So, Mr. Chairman, that's all I've got. Thank you, Mr. Speman. Any other questions for Mr. I've got one. Yes, sir. Mr.

Have you looked into what what options do we have? And I don't know if it's cost effective, but and and then again, I don't know what happened 10,000 hours ago as far as the amount of money was spent then in the refurbishing, but 20,000 hours is um I mean, I've been in the heavy equipment business a long time. It's it's ridiculous. You can't own equipment with that kind of hours and ask for it to go through this demand. And then we're throwing if you throw 200,000 more at it, it's not even going to be a band-aid on a cut for what that's going to do. But I mean, we may have to do it. My question would be what other options do we have? I was talking to Mr. Short earlier how to you know that and I'm I agree with you. If we're a contractor of trash, we should be in the green and we should have money and we should have equipment that should stay under warranty in order to work our way. You know, as the equipment ages, we cycle it out for new. We put it on gov deals. We sell it. We recuperate some of that money back and we stay because we have to operate year round no matter the weather. And I'm in that landfield more than anybody in this room, including you. And uh it's uh it's a lot uh that it's very demanding of that equipment of what it takes. And and it's um yeah, I mean, I don't understand how we get in this situation, but I'm new member here on the [snorts] board. But what options going forward? Have we looked at can we lease something to where cuz the Caterpillar is going to keep coming out here and working on what we throw $200,000 at cuz it is it is band-aids on this. I've seen this stuff. It's junk and it's just not going to fix it.

Well, that's that's the plan is is is once [clears throat] we get these back operational that we will save one of them for a backup machine and then we then we'll get a new machine. So, both of these the the D8 and the 836 were purchased in 2021 uh at at a complete rebuild. So, some of those hours were were on the rebuild frame. So th these they were kind of considered almost new equipment when we when we purchased them. Maybe that was a a poor decision that we went with a a reconditioned or uh a rebuilt unit. But at the time, you know, both of those I think one of them was $495,000 and the other one was about 500,000. So we're still spending a million dollars,

right, for two pieces of equipment.

And that is in and a new a new compactor is 1.5 million. So, we're, you know, you you you've noticed that our budget recently has been very tight and and we're we're trying to do uh new cells and things like that. So, we're, you know, we're trying to to keep as much equipment operational as long as we can, but we do have a goal to get a new a new compactor when that time comes. And we we're starting to see some additional revenue coming in. you know, we've got these new contracts that we've re renewed recently and we've got the the tonnage rate up higher than they were for the past 5 years. So, I feel like once we get over a couple of these hurdles, we're going to start seeing a lot uh better results and that's it just all these repairs have hit us at one time and that's that's just a it was a it was a perfect storm and that's what uh has caused this this issue. All right, Mr. Dudley.

Yes, sir. Um, thank you, Mr. Chairman. What's the price of a new D6 or new D8? Have you looked at those? The new compactors are like 1.5 million. Uh, and we have started looking at those. Um, and the dozers are probably about a million. I maybe Justin can Mr. Tell us. Yeah, around a million for a doz for for a D8. The But he's right. I mean, the contractor is that needs to be the focus. I mean, you're not going to be able to do both within a reasonable time frame. It's just going to be unquestionably out of the budget.

The contractor is the biggest necessity because that's where you're going to get your compaction and your airspace on the on the numbers he was just saying. We can almost go backwards and and rent or lease or something. uh which I think you're already doing that now with Sunb Belt, but it's it's still that gets expensive at 10,000 a piece a month. The question now is even with the the recent increase in tipping fees and that kind of thing. My question is we're bringing in Bedford's trash BTR and we're bringing in First Pont through I guess through Henry County and City of Damble. Are we price pointed at a profit margin where we can handle these kind of breakdowns? Or if we've got to go forward in the future and let's say two let's say the the track style machines stay in a in a rental category but yet we end up purchasing a million dollar compactor for instance to get us through or $ 1.5 million compactor. That's going to be where we making our how we make money

or at least increase profitability to get into the green. Right now it sounds like we're not in the green because we're we're getting more money to throw it. I mean dilapitated equipment, but I don't know. I don't I we're gonna have to run the numbers. But I don't know how to fix your newest problem here though. Chair's over here falling apart. Oh, put that on their list. [laughter] But I don't know. Uh you see what I'm saying? I mean, I'm just trying to hash this out or figure out a game plan here.

Yeah. It's and that's something that we're looking at too is you know if we do you know uh rent an equipment and we need to figure out you know whether rental is a better option than than buying. So we you know we we're trying to maintain what we've got so far knowing that we've got some expenses for new cells and things on the way. And and then we also if if we're going to trade these machines in they have to be operational if we're going to trade them in. I mean, you can't you can't expect to get any kind of return off of equipment that the the engines laying on the ground somewhere. All right, Mr. Chuck, go ahead. Go ahead.

Go ahead. U you described this as a perfect storm and I agree with you and the old saying the buck stops here. Uh, some might imply it stops with you, but it really stops with us because you come to us in a very conservative manner asking for what you need. You don't ask for extreme stuff. And if you were highminded, you came in here and answered two brand new doses and that would be [laughter]

uh three $3 million. And you didn't do that. And I know there's been some issues with personnel, with equipment, with who you choose to do business with. And so, um, I understand that. and and maybe we just leave it at that, but um I think you um you have a good plan and keep doing what you're doing because we we do understand and things break and things happen, but I would say a lot of this is not of your fault as as a director. So, I did want to say that in in your defense. Thank you, Mr. D.

Sir, Mr. Thank you, Mr. Tucker. Mr. Ago, thank you for the presentation. Um, I agree with my colleagues on some of the stuff. I wish we could replace this stuff before it got to this shape. And um, you know, do we have a mechanic that can work on this stuff and replace a lot of this stuff in house? We we don't have a mechanic for the heavy equipment now. We our mechanic works on the trucks exclusively. Now, he could do some things, you know, we uh minor electrical issues we that that we encounter, they'll go and ask him about it and he and he helped us with that, you know, and that's and that really saves us a bunch because it it's about $1,500 for for Carter to roll a truck down to to to just to come see us.

Absolutely. Before they even turn a wrench. Well, I mean, if we had somewhere, that'd be a big savings. Yes, sir. I mean, y'all got a nice shop over to work in. Listen, I own a bulldozer. I replaced the tracks, the sprockets, the rails, and everything on it a couple weeks ago out on my farm on the ground. So, you can work on them in a shop. Yes, sir. And uh if we had a good mechanic, they could be doing this stuff in that shop over in this cold weather and saving us a lot of money. Um cuz anything you can do yourself, you can save a lot. Sure.

And you can keep it maintenance on it. So you when it got to this point maybe you could come to us and say look this machine is getting a lot of hours. We need to consider trading it getting a new one cuz we're taking all this trash and we we have increased the load on this equipment a lot and you wearing it out a lot quicker and I understand all of that but um hopefully we and listen y'all just dealing with Carter these machines pass warranty right?

Yes sir. I mean, we've got some guys here in the county. You take Jeff Bowl up at Climax. I mean, he's one of the best around. I mean, I don't know if y'all ever reached out to him or not, but we have other people that could give us prices on work on this stuff, and they do a great job, too. I know he does. And we have talked to uh you know, we've had some track repairs done by uh another another firm, and we've gotten some other quotes, and that's one thing that we can look at with the the teeth. That may be something that's uh somebody else could do uh because it's not real real technical. Uh but but Carter, you know, Carter does our our preventive maintenance. So it's it's good to have them

uh when they do the work and they log it into their computer system so we can go back and say, "Hey, what did you do back in June of 22?" And they can give us a whole list. So it's there are some benefits to that and but but the warranties are and and the the new equipment or the repaired equipment will be will be warrantied as well you know which typically it's you know one year uh several hundred hours on on that replaced equipment. Okay. And then about the mechanic issue, you know, it took us took us almost five or it took us almost four years to find a decent mechanic

in in the for the truck. So, uh, and even First Pedmont, they they hire a Carter mechanic to stay at their site all the time, full full time, and they're paying they're paying CAT for this mechanic because you just can't find a an equipment mechanic really that it's very hard to find. Well, I know. Yeah. Caught is good, but you going to pay for them. Yes, sir. Yeah, I understand that. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, sir. Mr. Whitman, anything? All right. Thank you. [clears throat]

Thank you, board. Let me uh make a couple comments here because um kind of scratching my head here. Um this is a continuation of the conversation that we've had uh with the landfill. And so the board understands, this is not a general fund issue. This is uh an enterprise fund. that should be self-sufficient and self- sustaining. And that's one of the reasons I asked, do we know where our break even point is? And I think uh Mr. Brown even mentioned that as well. Uh [sighs] and you know, I I understand and I'm I'm not pointing fingers, but we should not be in this position. Okay, Mr. Bowman's correct. We need some uh some good planning. We need some old-fashioned white knuckle accounting so that we know where we are, where we stand. Uh you know, if we were uh profitable making money out there rather than having to prop up the the landfill, uh we we could uh maybe digest this a little easier. And I know contingencies come up, but uh I I I don't know. I'm, you know, I'm of the opinion that we don't need to be buying this high dollar equipment wherein uh you know, your warranties gone via the hours or you know, time ticking on the clock. I prefer someone else own that equipment. We rent

it or lease it. And if it breaks, it's their problem, not our problem. If it breaks, they bring out another piece of equipment to replace that so that it cuts our down time. So, we we got to do a little bit of better planning than than what we're doing right here. And um you know I I don't think it's anything wrong with your ask but there have been enough questions to uh challenge you to go back get a little additional information. We know we have to operate. We know we got to run. We we you've told us exactly how much money we're going to lose from compaction, that sort of thing. uh we lose money when the whole landfill is down. I get that. But at the same time, let me say unequivocally, we cannot run that landfill out there at the convenience of our customers and these other localities. Anytime you get yourself in a position where it's costing you money uh to operate and there's no profit in it, you have to ask yourself why you're doing it just as a courtesy. Okay. So, we need to address some of this going forward. But right now, if you don't mind, Mr. Ecock, would you take a look at uh some of the suggestions that you've heard around from the board and get back with us possibly next week as we have our finance meeting and uh we can kind of figure out a way forward here. Well, it's it's kind of important that we try to address I mean, we can go back and look, but we kind of need to address these issues that we have currently because we're I mean, we're

we're using a rental machine, one rental machine, and we have we're we got uh rental dozers. So, I I don't know what the options we come back to you is going to be the same. I'm

I'm not sure, Mr. Shore. You're the uh county administrator. I'm going to defer to you, sir. Would you get us some quotes on leasing or renting some new equipment, that sort of thing? Because uh it sounds like we're going to be spending good money after bad. Because if you're telling me these machines have all those hours on it, I'm I'm not a novice. I own diesel tractors and I like Daryl. I own a dozer also, but I'm not going to lay down on the ground and work on it this time of the year. [laughter] But uh but but we need we need some options here. Okay. You're asking us to kind of make a decision based on you know just going fixing up patching old equipment and who's to say in less than 30 days the whole thing falls apart. Now we got to spend x amount of dollars additionally to get up and running. So, I would prefer to hear what it would cost us to lease or to uh uh uh rent some equipment to keep us rolling. And if you would loop Mr. Brown in there since he's in the business, but uh I I would appreciate us attacking that issue from uh from that angle prior to just spending this amount of money.

Okay. And I'm and I'm with you. Excuse me. I'm with you. I mean, you are in a you're in a pinch. I get it. I mean, I'm not I'm not arguing that. And I just I just um that's it's just the whole deal is a tough deal. So now I don't know. I would love to see some of the numbers or try to figure out a plan with you. Um he just put me on the solid waste the chairman just put me on the solid waste committee. I think Daryl, Mr. Talton and uh I forgot who else is with us, but I don't know maybe we can do a field trip day and a caterpillar day or somebody day and look at Reynold and and get an idea more of what you're going through. Sure. I think that's going to help everybody.

Yes, sir. Mr. Bowman, Mr. Chairman, just one other question. So, Chris, what's if we appropriated the money today, what would be the lead time that you would need in order to put the order in, get the parts, get it fixed and up and running? 30 days, 45 days? Uh, no. the so the the the D8 final drive they're telling me they could get that done in in a couple of weeks. Um the engine so the engine on the 836 863 836 is being repaired currently. So we we will have that one back operational the 836 it just will have the the the worn out teeth on

the wheels would need to be repaired. I got you. Um, so I mean that'll still work and and and uh I think you know we're looking at several probably several weeks to get the the other repairs done. Okay. All right. That's all I've got. Thank you. Thank you. Sure. Mr. Will,

thank you. Hey, Mr. Adcot, what you I hear you saying is you need this so you can keep your landfield running right now, don't you? Well, we're running, but it's just not it's not, you know, we're we're at a point where we need to have the best compaction we can because we're running out of space in the current phase and we're working towards building the second phase. So, so that those time frames don't coll, we need to be as efficient as as we can. And that's kind of what I'm what we're saying. We're, you know, we're things are moving because we've got rental equipment there, but that's, you know, that's costing us as well. So, we should have been working on this 6 months ago instead of today. Well, they didn't break down 6 months ago. They just

But they were they were on the way. You know, with all the hours on it, you know, they're on the way. They're headed that direction. Everything with ours on it breaks down after a while. So, forklifts, anything else you're working on, right? Yeah. But, um, I appreciate it. Thank you. Yes, sir. Any anything else board? Thank you, Mr. Dao. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right, we move to agenda item 6B, 250th, celebration independence day. Mr. Sharter, good afternoon and welcome, sir.

Mr. chairman, board members, our uh our nation is uh approaching its 250th anniversary. And for such we have been in coordination with the three towns in the county as long as as well as the county itself and preparing and planning for a celebration festival to occur on July the 4th. Um, Pennsylvania County will celebrate America's 250th anniversary with a once- in a generation free countywide event for citizens that honors our past, celebrates who we are today, and creates something meaningful for the future. Overview of the event. The celebration will take place on July the 4th, 2026 at the Old Dominion Agricultural Complex and will feature live entertainment, food trucks, community vendors, children's activities, historical and cultural displays, a fireworks finale [cough] to close the event and much more. Because the event will be held at ODAK and it and is anticipated to draw a large number of attendees, there will be no on-site regular public parking. We we plan on accommodating as much uh handicap parking on site as possible to ensure safe, efficient, and accessible transportation. The county will operate continuous uh shuttle bus service throughout the day from the designated off-site parking locations. This approach is intended to reduce traffic congestion, improve pedestrian safety,

and ensure all residents can comfortably access the event. The event details are it's going to start at 9:00 a.m. with the Field of Honor, which is out near the ODAK. 11:00 a.m. the town of Chattam will be hosting a parade uh on their main street. The event will continue, the program will continue at 12. At noon at um the venue at the ODAK will officially be open to the public. At 1 pm there will be a opening ceremony and welcoming and during the entire day there'll be live music, food trucks and activities and then at 9:45 the final fireworks show will begin. The planning for the 250th celebration is being led by the county through an organized committee structure that includes county employees, staff from the towns of Cadam, Gretton, and Hurt, and community volunteers. These committees allow work to be divided into manageable areas such as logistics, programming, safety, and fundraising while still maintaining centralized coordination and oversight. This structure helps ensure accountability, clear communication, and efficient decision making as planning progresses. The various committees are the steering committee which is the executive planning team, historical and heritage committee, events and entertainment committee, parking shuttle and site planning committee, decorations and beautifification committee, volunteer coordination committee, food and beverage committee, public relations and marketing committee, fundraising and sponsorship committee, youth engagement committee,

Safety, Security and Logistics Committee, Branding Committee, Legacy and Time Capsule Committee, and Faith and Reflection Committee. The steering the steering committee uh is composed of our chairman, Mr. Tucker, myself, Kim Vanderhyde, Kayla McCcluster, Holly Stanfield, Connie Gibson, Kelly Hawker, which is the town of Cadam clerk. Alisa Davis, which is the town of Chattam Mayor, Crystal Grubs, the town of Gretina clerk. Keith Mley, town of Gretna, mayor. Nick Morris with Cadam first and Rotary. Jimmy Harding, Town of Hurt Council member. Alice Bond, Town of Hurt Council member. Mr. Bunky Doss, which is the former uh school board chair, and we'll be uh reaching out to his successor, uh Mr. Mayhew, which is the Pennsylvania County School Superintendent, Otis Vaughn, Pennsylvania County Chief Building Official, and Bill Webb King with the town of Chadam. Um, this is what we're really getting to at this point. We've been meeting with these committees and planning and organizing um, a couple meetings a month since September. Um, last meeting we had all of the department or committees submit budget requests of what they think it would cost for them to to um s pull off a successful event [clears throat] from their perspective. And so now we're we're kind of at an organizational point where we need some centralized uh purchasing and procurement and someone uh with the authority to sign contracts of other and other things. So,

in preparation for Pennsylvania Countyy's 250th independence day festival, staff has developed a comprehensive purchasing and procurement policy procedures policy along with a festival purchase request form and a committee acknowledgement form to govern all festival related purchases and expenditures. Together, these documents establish a clear standardized process for requesting, reviewing, approving, and tracking purchases, clarifying purchasing and contract authority, and ensure compliance with Pennsylvania County's procurement policy. Chapter 25. The document also the documents also ensure that all committee members acknowledge and understand their responsibility and limitations regarding to purchasing and procurement. Board approval of the policy and related forms will provide centralized oversight, promote transparency and allow festival planning activities to proceed in a controlled and compliant manner. the proposed funding structure um to support the planning and implementation of the festival. Our chairman Tucker has indicated support for appropriating 125,000 for this purpose and recommends the board transfer the funds uh from the board's contingency line item to a newly established line item specifically designed for this event. A fundraising committee has been established and tasked with seeking donations, sponsorships, and other financial support. All donations and sponsorship funds will be tracked separately from county funds and placed in a separate line item specifically designated for festival donations. The goal and the the hopes is to receive enough corporate uh

donations and sponsorships to completely um completely fund this uh festival. But there needs to be um appropriated funding uh for purchases until we we've accomplished or hopefully accomplished those goals. Once the board adopts the procurement and purchasing policy and establishes a budget, planning and coordination will continue. Procurement activities will begin as needed and the board will receive updates as the event progresses. Thank you, Mr. Sharter. Comments, questions from the board.

Yes, sir. Mr. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, you said there's going to be like concerts, is that we should say it or there there will be live bands performing and as well as a DJ from the beginning to the end of the event for filler and announcements.

Okay. Um, I was just sitting up here thinking and it may be u shot in the dark, but I mean we've got a um someone in this county that was actually a superstar at one time and he's he's he's retired and just quietly retiring at home and that's Ricky Van Shelton. I was wondering if we could possibly reach out to him and see if he could do concert or something just to just give it a thought. So, I mean it's up to whatever. Y'all already may have plans, but we'll see.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Dudley. Yes, sir. Mr. Whittle. Um, how much uh have y'all already uh brought in from people the sponsors y'all sent out to? Have y'all brought in anything yet? Yeah, I think that mailing donations thus far as 1,800 range 1,750. Well, okay. We mailed out at the beginning of December a little over 500 uh donation request forms, right?

You know, we know how businesses and corporate structures work of how those types of requests have to work their way through specific channels. So, um we're doing followup. At our last at our last meeting, we passed out the entire list of everyone that was was mailed a form and asked all the committee members that if they had any personal contact with any or any personal relationship with any of those vendors or companies to actually schedule and and plan a face-to-face visit um with those entities. So we think that that's where the majority of the fruit will come to bear is the actual door knocking and and face toface visit.

Thank you. Yes, sir. Mr. D. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um M sure, let me ask you. Um I didn't see where the committee chairmans were listed. So, is that something that could be made available to us in case we come up with an idea that we could reach out to that person or just would you rather come through you? No, absolutely. Kayn has that spreadsheet and she could disseminate that to all of you. Um, she has every committee chair and their membership and contact information as it's been provided to us. And I I like what Mr. Dudley said. Um, if you could get Ricky Van Shelton out of retirement, that would be a great gift to this county.

Um, and and I was just going to recommend that we have so much local talent. Yeah, we do. That could be utilized. So, I don't know what your plans are. I think about Megan Daws and uh Matt Boswell for instance. You know, it's just a lot of uh men of ordinary. I forget who those guys are. There's a lot of local talent out here that could be used and it needs to be diversified of course, but u this 125 is is this the cap that you're looking at spending

based upon the the budget submission request from the from the various committees? We know that it's going to take roughly that amount to p to pull the event off. So, you know, the jury is still out on on how much is going to be donated. Um, I guess what I'm asking is the donations will offset that. We in a perfect world 100%. Okay. Because I know a lot of times when my children were little, we planned a party and we didn't really have the money for the cake yet. So, we struggled, but it's okay. It's good now. I appreciate your answers. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Sher. Um, that was one of my questions about the 125,000. So, if we appropriate this and we get the donations in, I mean, we'll use our donations and not use our county funds, right? That would be the that would be the preference is to fund it all through donations. But I think there's going to be that lag and that gap of having to to preund the event until and and and and I'm not going to stand here before you and assure you that we're going to collect $125,000 in donations.

Oh, I know. I mean, we've got to do something. This is a very special event right here. 250th anniversary. I just think about 125,000. I mean, that's a lot of money to really take from a taxpayers to have a celebration and event. And I hope it's a good turnout. I hope it's it's worth that 125,000. But it would be great if we can get those donations and not have to take ask the citizens to pay for something. And some of them's not going to come anyway. But again, we've got to do something. I ain't denying that. But I would like to uh get a lot of donations. be nice. We We can use your help. Yeah.

Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. Mr. Bowman,

Mr. Chairman, thank you, Vincent. Um, good presentation. The only question I've got is the committees that have been identified that are going out here and put together this entire um event. How are you going to manage the request coming in from the committees for funding? Uh, for instance, um, let's say with the, uh, the venue, the the music venue, uh, that committee goes out and they find somebody, whoever that is, they come back and they go, "Okay, it's going to cost us $5,000 to have this this band or this person come." Are these things going to come in just halfhazardly independent as they come up with these requests? And is it going to be I'm looking on this going to be funneled through you uh for approval and how does that work?

I won't be singularly in charge of of approving any of these. Um the steering the steering committee meets an hour before the regular committees meet twice a month. So the hour before the regular meeting when the steering committee's there and the the members of all the the steering committee members are on their on that sheet the steering committee as a whole would have to approve any type of expenditure like that and would just authorize the single point of contact which would be me to sign any necessary agreement or document after the committee had approved it not me personally. Okay. Okay. That's all I've got, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bowman. Anyone else? I did I'm sorry. I did have one more question. Yes, sir. Mr.

This um uh no on-site parking sort of bothers me. Um you know, I uh I remember I've been involved in events where you had to park here and get on a bus to go there. And the the rock concert was what uh I I was thinking about it. From what I saw, it it caused a lot of people not to show up because they didn't want to have to be bust over there, even though that was a pretty good crowd. Um is any alternate uh thought about that rather than requiring people to park somewhere and get on a shuttle bus and and it of course it inhibits or limits people's ability to leave when they want to.

All right. Well, well, the the thought behind that that the that the committee received a lot of advice. We've had VOTE representatives attend the meetings. State police attend every one of our meetings. Um leaning on the sheriff with his experience with trunk or treat. But this event's going to require so much outdoor space at ODAK and especially the fireworks display and where they have to set off in the restricted zone for that is going to eat up so much ground. Okay.

That no one can be around it. It'll be a completely restricted area. And then the outside areas on either side outside of the building uh weather permitting will be full of vendors and bounce houses and entertainment rides for the children. um that if we reserve the surfaced parking lot that we know right there at ODAK um we're hoping that that will be enough to accommodate the handicap handicapped folk uh of parking on site. Last question. What if it rains? Then we're going to have to squeeze as much as we can inside of that building.

Okay. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Let me let me say first off, thank you uh Mr. Sher and um I I I think I approached Mr. Sher and and tasked him with uh you know getting started on this early because other localities are going to be putting together similar events and and uh you know the sooner you start obviously you have an opportunity to be able to get the vendors that you need that sort of thing to help put the event together. Um look umundu uh 250th anniversary the celebration of this country. Uh let's face it uh I I probably won't be around for the 300th or the 350th. You know if the laws of nature hold and the Lord doesn't come back. Uh so I think it's important and from where I stand to be able to have this type of event and especially for the youth and the children keeping them in mind. Uh it'll be happening during Fourth of July weekend. And let's face it, uh a lot of kids in this county economically will not be able to travel outside of the county or experience any type of uh funday trip or whatever the case is. Um, you know, uh, again, I'm not trying to be free and easy with any of the taxpayers money, but when you say $125,000, there are 64,000 residents strong in Pittsy County. Uh, and if you do the

math, it only cost us maybe a $1.95 cent per person in the county to be able to fund this type of thing. By simply taking 125,000 divided by 64,000, it's less than two bucks per person to get that job done. So, I'm going to be all about it. I've made contact. I went face to face and met with um the general manager over at C uh Caesars and they've committed to uh to giving us some money. It's going to take work. You know, we cannot you know sit down, wish, hope, and pray that uh you know, we'll receive the donations. We're going to have to go out there and uh and get in front of these people. Um, I've asked um fundraising committee to put together a a preferred uh donors list or premier donors list that are capable of of giving significant uh funds for this cause. So, I'm going to uh get in front of microorus. we're going to get in front of um you know uh some of the heavy hitters in terms of the industry in in this area and and I'd like for some of this you know supervisors we all of us should be out here face to face with a lot of these companies face forward um you know that's important we uh you know look um when we had our finance meeting and Miss Vendhide updated this um the Chamber of Commerce, they're asking for a donation. Uh we need to use all of our resources. The Chamber of Commerce actually is tied in with all of these companies throughout Danville,

Pennsylvania County, and surrounding areas. So we need to lean on them in terms of getting good contact information and helping us get in front of these folks to get these donations. So I am I am imploring uh the assistance of this board to uh to help make it happen. Um and and listen, it's it's not about ego. It is all about uh giving back. And if we can pull this off and it winds up being just a nominal expense to uh the actual county and we're able to uh get the donations we need to to uh make it palatable, then I'm all about it. So, thank you, Mr. Sharter. That's where we are. And um I think this is on the consent agenda and and I'm and I'm I just wanted Mr. in order to update the board before we just put something on the consent agenda and rifle it through. So uh as uh as they said when you were getting married speak now I forever hold you peace. Any other comments? Mr. Boba

Mr. Chairman I would just like uh we only have six months before this event actually takes place. So I would like to hear the progress report if you don't mind. It doesn't have to be 45 seconds. You know where we stand with this because this is a major event and it takes a lot of planning. It takes a lot of a lot of people involved in doing this. So I would request just an update at our work session maybe um to tell us where we are, where we need to focus our energies uh to pull this thing together. Sir. Okay, that's all I have. We can do that. Anything else,

Mr. Chairman? Well, Mr. Sharter, I got to maybe I misunderstood what Mr. Dalton's uh question was, but I think it's the same as mine. If the donations come in through corporate accounts, does that mean it goes on top of the 125 or as the taxpayers 125, is this replacing that? No. the my my understanding um from the committee is that 125 is our best estimate of what it's going to cost to pull this off. So if we theoretically fund raise 100,000, then I would see that the county would at the end of the day be on the hook for 25.

Okay. All right. Understood. Okay. Good. Anybody good? Thank you, Mr. Shoulder. Yes, sir. All right, we will move to Mr. Chairman. Yes, sir. Mr. Widow has Mr. Whittle. I'm sorry. Can we put this take this off consent agenda and put it on the regular agenda to vote on tonight? I don't have a problem with that. Can we make that happen, Mr. Evans? Yes, Mr. Chairman. We'll need a motion when we get to that point.

Okay. Thank you. In fact, Mr. Whittle when we get to that point as uh Mr. Evans uh remarked the only thing you need to do is that particular item is make a motion to separate that item and then we'll deal with it. Thank you. Okay. Just make yourself a note separate.

Okay. All right. Uh let's see. Finance committee. Miss Vanderhy, please. [clears throat] I think you all were here earlier. Um, but just for the sake of the public, we did have a finance committee just prior to the work session this afternoon. And one [snorts] of the items that we discussed that will uh need action and is also on the consent agenda for this evening is the FY2026 midyear adjustments which total um $744,45857 and um they are broken down into uh various categories that we went over in depth at the finance committee meeting. Um, this is not additional monies um that we need to put into the budget. These are just things that we've received since July 1 that have not been previously appropriated, whether it be donations or if it's um grants or that kind of thing. or it may just be monies that are just sitting in a pot that we've already expended, but we haven't actually appropriated those funds to cover that expense. So, um there's no additional local funds that are required. They're just funds that haven't been placed. It's kind of a bookkeeping um function. So, that will be on tonight's agenda. It's already there. It's on consent. um it did not require public hearing as a lot of times they do because um the value wasn't above 1% of our budget. So I'll entertain any questions if you have them. But that's just a brief recap of the finance committee.

Thank you, Mr. F. Any questions? I think most of us were in the finance committee meeting. Okay. Anything else? All right. Um, let's see. Uh, any further discussion before we go into close? Mr. Evans, can you read us in please? M. Mr. Chairman, do we need Hang on. Do we need to make a motion on her presentation here? No, actually it uh that's on consent agenda. Okay. Thank you. Yes, sir. Mr. Edens, I'm sorry.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There there are two matters designated for close session this afternoon. The first is discussion, consideration or interviews or prospective candidates for employment, assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion of salaries, disciplining or resignation of specific public officers, appointees or employees of any public body, legal authority Virginia code section 2.23711 A1. Subject matter is the discussion of the treasures cooperative agreement and the purpose is review and discussion of the same. The second matter for close session is discussion concerning a prospective business or industry or the expansion of an existing business or industry where no previous announcement has been made of the businesses or industry's interest in locating or expanding its facilities in the community. This is legal authority Virginia code section 2.2 3711 A5 and subject matter is unannounced perspective businesses and industries. This is a general economic development projects update. Mr. Chairman, now be appropriate to entertain a motion, second discussion, and vote regarding close session.

Thank you, Mr. S. All right, I'll entertain that motion. Mr. Bowman, make that motion. Thank you, sir. Second. Thank you. I think that was Mr. Dalton. All right. Uh, any discussion? Hearing none, cast your votes. Motion passes unanimously. We will convene to it closed and we will be back.

ER's work session held on January 20th, 2026. The board hereby certifies by recorded vote that to the best of each board member's knowledge, the only only business public business matters lawfully exempted from the open meeting requirements of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and identified in the motion authorizing the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered in the closed meeting. If any board member believes that there was a departure from the requirements of the act, he shall so state prior to the vote indicating the substance of the departure. The statement shall be recorded in the board's meetings. want to have a roll call vote. Mr. Dalton,

yes. Mr. Dudley, yes. Mr. Brown, yes. Mr. Bowman, yes. Mr. Whittle, yes. Mr. Ingram, yes. Mr. Tucker, yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Evans. Uh, we stand a journ for my work session. Three minutes. Let's reassemble in five minutes, gentlemen.