February 3, 2025 A regular monthly meeting of the Russell County Board of Supervisors was held on Monday, February 3, 2025 at 6:00 PM at the Russell County Government Center in Lebanon, Virginia. CALL TO ORDER. & ROLL CALL The Clerk called the meeting to order. Roll Call by the Clerk: Present - Andrew Hensley Lou Ann Wallace Tara Dye Steve Breeding ac quorum Rebecca Dye Nate Kiser David Eaton Lonzo Lester, Clerk Rhonda Lester, Deputy Clerk Will Wampler, County Attorney Absent - None INVOCATION & PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE nvocation performed by Caleb Johnson followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA Motion made by Steve Breeding second Lou Ann Wallace and duly approved by the Board of Supervisors to amend the Agenda to move Michelle Vance to number one (1) and New Leaf Energy Solar Project = Quentin Wood & Jessie Robinson to number two (2) under PRESENTATIONS and add Diana Shorter, Registrar Report as number one (1) under COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR REPORTS AND REQUESTS. The vote was: Aye: Andrew Hensley, Tara Dye, David Eaton, Steve Breeding, Rebecca Dye, Lou Ann Wallace, and Nate Kiser Nay: None Abstain: None Absent: None PRESENTATIONS 1. Michelle Vance 2. New Leaf Energy Solar Project - Quentin Wood NEW BUSINESS 1. Approval of Minutes: Motion made by Steve Breeding, second Lou Ann Wallace and duly approved by the Board of Supervisors to approve the minutes of January 6, 2025 as presented. The vote was: Aye: Andrew Hensley, Tara Dye, David Eaton, Steve Breeding, Rebecca Dye, Lou Ann Wallace, and Nate Kiser Nay: None Abstain: None Absent: None 2. Approval of Expenditures: Motion made by Rebecca Dye, second Steve Breeding and duly approved by the Board of Supervisors to approve the expenditures presented for payment. The vote was: Aye: Andrew Hensley, Tara Dye, David Eaton, Steve Breeding, Rebecca Dye, Lou Ann Wallace, and Nate Kiser Nay: None Abstain: None Absent: None 3. Committee/Board Appointments: a) Swords Creek Community Center - Cindy Dye 2' Year-Term February 6, 2025 Jerry Hess 2 Year-Term February 6, 2025 Lynn Hess 2 Year-Term February 6, 2025 Alicia Plaster 2 Year-Term February 6, 2025 Treca Ray 2 Year-Term February 6, 2025 Motion made by Steve Breeding, second Tara Dye and duly approved by the Board of Supervisors to approve the reappointments of Cindy Dye, Jerry Hess, Lynn Hess, Alicia Plaster, Treca Ray, and the appointment of Denise Smith for two year- terms ending February 6, 2027. The vote was: Aye: Andrew Hensley, Tara Dye, David Eaton, Steve Breeding, Rebecca Dye, Lou Ann Wallace, and Nate Kiser Nay: None Abstain: None Absent: None CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICER REPORTS AND REQUESTS None COUNTY ATTORNEY REPORTS AND REQUESTS 1. Solar Projects; request for closed session to discuss legal matters pursuant to Section 2.2-3711(A) (5) (8). COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR REPORTS AND REQUESTS Reports: 1. Diana Shorter, Registrar Report - need to relocate voters assigned to the recently closed Swords Creek and Copper Creek Elementary Schools 2. 2025 Southwest VA egislative Reception 3. RC 2024 Annual Board of Supervisors Report 4. Mel Leaman Free Medical/Dental Clinic Partnership 5. Russell County Road Reporting System Requests: 1. RC Invitation for Bid (IFB) - Russell County Community Center & Fire Department Generator Installation Contract. a) Chair appointed Steve Breeding and himself (David Eaton) to a committee for the RC Invitation for Bid (IFB) - Russell County Community Center & Fire Department Generator Installation Contract. 2. County's Reassessment Equalization Board Appointments Motion made by Steve Breeding, second Rebecca Dye and duly approved by the Board of Supervisors to approve the appointment of Barabara Parker, John Watson, and Walter Parker to the County's Reassessment Equalization Board. The vote was: Aye: Andrew Hensley, Tara Dye, David Eaton, Steve Breeding, Rebecca Dye, Lou Ann Wallace, and Nate Kiser Nay: None Abstain: None Absent: None 3. Cumberland Plateau Regional Housing Authority (CPRHA) - Payment in Lieu of Taxes for HUD Developments & Pittston Place Apartments $17,072.54 Motion made by Lou Ann Wallace, second Andrew Hensley and duly approved by the Board ofSupervisors to approve the Cumberland Plateau Regional Housing Authority (CPRHA) - Payment in Lieu of Taxes for HUD Developments & Pittston Place Apartments - $17,072.54. The vote was: Aye: Andrew Hensley, Tara Dye, David Eaton, Steve Breeding, Rebecca Dye, Lou Ann Wallace, and Nate Kiser Nay: None Abstain: None Absent: None 4. Department of Housing & Community Development (DHCD) - Natural Gas Pipeline Planning Grant - Castlewood & RussellTazewell County Line - $100,000 Motion made by Lou Ann Wallace, second Nate Kiser and duly approved by the Board of Supervisors to approve the Department of Housing & Community Development (DHCD) - Natural Gas Pipeline Planning Grant - Castlewood & Russell/Tazewelu County Line - $100,000. The vote was: Aye: Andrew Hensley, Tara Dye, David Eaton, Steve Breeding, Rebecca Dye, Lou Ann Wallace, and Nate Kiser Nay: None Abstain: None Absent: None 5. CPRWMA Manpower Service and User Agreements Motion made by Andrew Hensley, second Tara Dye to approve CPRWMA Manpower Service and User Agreements. The vote was: Aye: Andrew Hensley, Tara Dye, David Eaton, Steve Breeding, Rebecca Dye, Lou Ann Wallace, and Nate Kiser Nay: None Abstain: None Absent: None CITIZENS' COMMENTS The Chair opened the citizens' comment period. 1. Jim Lyttle -I want to talk on a particular attitude and it's an attitude see in the county unfortunately more and more. So, addressing the Board of Supervisors, County Administrator and my fellow citizens...the negative attitude in this county. There's enough blame to go around, butl'd encourage our supervisors and our citizens to view from a proactive point instead of a reactive point. So many times, we're just being reactive to problems instead of presenting solutions to problems. If we're going to at any point hope to attract people back, we can't just sit and complain. We've got to look at positive things thaty we can do to keep our people comingin. The point is we're all neighbors and we're all friends, let's try to start cooperating as such instead of reaching out with negativity constantly. Ifwe're going to retain our youth, we have to present a positive front to Russell County. I don't understand the workings always of the supervisors, but most of you all ran on a transparency issue and sometimes we don't see that and we realize that we can't always see that for legal purposes. A little more transparency sometimes would go a long way, think from both sides. Ijust want to see a more positive county. really plead for our supervisors and our citizenryto try to present and try to work togetheri if we've got an issue. Let's just try to get along and have a positive county, Thank you for your time. BOARD DISCUSSIONS & REMINDERS 1. Nate Kiser - just a couple things I want to reiterate about the taxes, we have not set the tax rate. Ifyou feel like you got an increase that was too much, make sure you set that appointment to have a meeting with the assessment company. And then we work on the equalization board, and you know we're going to work hard to make sure that folks are not paying any more than they have to for their taxes. That's one thingl ran on when elected, was to keep taxes low and even lower them if we can...and I plan on doing that. To piggyback off of what Tara was saying about the monies available to help out with power bills, there's also money available to help low- income folks to make energy upgrades to their heating and cooling systems. Contact me, Tara, any of the board members or Lonzo there are certain thresholds, but you won't know until you ask. It's definitely something to consider. There are certain windows for heating and then certain windows for cooling upgrades, but it could really help some folks out because that's why a lot of people's power bills are high. I spoke with over six legislators in person in Richmond about the high cost of power not just the rates but also the usage of folks in Southwest Virginia. Most people's power bills are high because they're running electric heat in some shape, form, or manner and it's causing very high usage. Ifyou are in that lower income bracket, then at least look into this because I think it's something that could possibly help. Lastly, Mr. Lyttle nailed it pretty spot on... .there is a lot of negativities especially on social media. try to stay away from it as much as - I can, that's why I don't post a whole lot because there is sO much and anything you say especially as an elected official gets twisted and turned around and made into some kind of meme or negative post. I can tell you that in Richmond this past week this board worked their tails off to make Russell County a better place. There are a lot of really great things in the works right now, we can't talk about right now because of negotiations and things.. but believe me if these things come through it changes the face of Russell County for the better. And that's what everybody always worries about, changing the face of Russell County what's that going to look like. It's not a landfill okay, we're not doing anything like that it's for the better and it will really help our citizens. It'll make Russell County a place where people want to live, hopefully bring people back, and keep people here. It will expand on some of our tourism in the region, SO I think we've got some really exciting things going on. can't wait till we can announce them; I wanted to shout it right now but, - know we have got to keepit under our hats. But trust me these folks up here as much as you may have disagreements with one, two, or all of us we're all working toward that goal of making Russell County the best place in Virginia to work, live, and raise a family. That's all have, thank you. 2. Andrew Hensley - just want to thank everybody for coming outi tonight. It's been said a lot to me both directly and indirectly that we're just trying to raise your taxes, I want you to know that everybody here is trying to take care of you on your taxes. There is genuine concern about folks with their power bills and we're limited as to how we can help you with that today, but hopefully in the future.... don't know if any of these solar projects that's been mentioned will even happen, if they do maybe we can use that as a way to offset people's power bills. There are things that's been discussed amongst us and we're not always going to agree with each other, but we're trying. - I just want the public to know that we are trying to look out for you, even if it doesn't always look like it...we are and thank you for being here tonight. 3. Lou Ann Wallace - None 4. Tara Dye -I wanted to mention that Paula Howington at the DSS has a program that can help you with your electric bill. We have some applications in the back, SO if you all know of anybody who could benefit from that please pick one up. I know a lot of people are struggling with that. 5. Rebecca Dye - just a couple of things, Iwas looking on the highway report and it talks about the county is doing their contract... is that just for the turning lane at project salmon right below the college? Our partis the turning lane or are we going to pay or do we pay for the road that goes all the way into the project Salmon? 6. Steve Breeding -I asked Lonzo to work on a form to identify all of our businesspeople in the county. - think it's important to identify them and what they do in an efforti to try to help them...see if there are ways that we can help market their products or ways they might be able to work together to form a co-op or something like that. Every day Ilearn something new in the county that somebody's done that I had no idea they're doing. think I'd like to just send out a registration or we may have to do an ordinance of some sort saying we just want to register with no fees associated just from an information standpoint. The IDA can use that as a marketing tool as well as all the artisans here. I think it's just important for us to do. Also, we are looking at some additional recreational sites. There is a meeting soon to look at one major site to see if we can acquire that property and add some destination points for our tourism group. Other than that, really don't have much...we just appreciate everybody. 7. David Eaton - I agree with Jim, we have got to love each other..that's what the good book says. We've got to take care of our County and support each other. Ifyou have anyideas orinitiatives just let one of us know and let us tryto work with you. Between the Treasurer, County Administrator, the Sheriff and all the people that work with us, if you see what we're having to deal with and all the different pieces of this to make our County better. There's not a better county in the area as far as cooperation and working together. Iwill tell you that behind the scenes we are working to try to make our County a better place. We've got some good news coming up. Government don't run as fast as I'd like, but there's a lot of pieces and parts of itt that we've gotto transfer through. thank our citizens...we appreciate you all. We appreciate your input and I'm sure I'm speaking for the majority of this board. CLOSED SESSION Motion made by Steve Breeding, second Lou Ann Wallace by and duly approved bythe Board of Supervisors to enter into closed session to discuss Legal Matters pursuant to Section 2.2- 3711(A) (5) (8). The vote was: Aye: Andrew Hensley, Tara Dye, David Eaton, Steve Breeding, Rebecca Dye, Lou Ann Wallace, and Nate Kiser Nay: None Abstain: None Absent: None CERTIFICATION OF CLOSED SESSION Pursuant to $2.2-3712 (D) of the Code of Virginia 1950, as amended, each member of the Board of Supervisors upon the Roll Call certifies that to the best of their knowledge (i) only public business matters lawfully exempted from the open meeting requirements under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and (ii) only such public business matters that were dentified in the motion(s) bywhich the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed or considered in the meeting by the Board of Supervisors. Any member of the Board of Supervisors who believes that there was a departure from the requirements of clauses (1) and (ii) above shall SO state prior to the vote, indicating the substance of the departure that, in his or her judgment, has taken place. Are there any Supervisors who believe a departure has taken place? Seeing none, if you agree that the matters heard, discussed, or considered during the closed meeting were pursuant only to the motion(s) by which the closed meeting was convened, please signify by saying aye or yes. Andrew Hensley - Yes Lou Ann Wallace - Yes Tara Dye - Yes Steve Breeding - Yes David Eaton - Yes Rebecca Dye - Yes Nate Kiser - Yes APPROVAL TO RETURN TO REGULARSESSION Motion made by Steve Breeding, second Lou Ann Wallace by and duly approved by the Board of Supervisors to return to regular session. The vote was: Aye: Andrew Hensley, Tara Dye, David Eaton, Steve Breeding, Rebecca Dye, Lou Ann Wallace, and Nate Kiser Nay: None Abstain: None Absent: None ADJOURNMENT Chair adjourned meeting at 8:18 PM. The next regular monthly meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 3, 2025 at 6:00 PM. Clerk of the Board Chairperson