Day: July 3, 2013

Board of Supervisors Meeting Notes from June 28, 2013, Meeting

by wytheGovernment

IMG_0010On the morning of June 28, 2013, the Wythe County Board of Supervisors held its bi-monthly meeting inside the Wythe County Administration Building.

Following citizen’s time, the Board voted to adopt the proposed tax rates for calendar year 2013. The rates leave real estate, merchants’ capital and machine & tools taxes at their present rates. The personal property tax rates, however, were slightly increased from $2.08 to $2.27 per $100 of assessed value.

Sam Crockett, Wythe County’s Treasurer, gave his monthly report to the board.

“Overall, our collection rates are fairly good this year,” says Crockett.

Board members then discussed ongoing issues within each of their districts.

Joe Hale, representing the Fort Chiswell District, stated that he has received complaints from residents who say motorists are driving too fast on Fox Mountain Road. Hale requested the Sheriff’s Department to increase patrols in the area.

Afterwards, Sheriff Doug King updated the board as to his department’s latest news.

King announced that an automatic call attendant has been added to the sheriff’s telephone number (223-6000) that handles administrative calls.

According to King, the number has continued to receive emergency calls and the automatic call attendant will direct emergency callers to dial 911. He states that individuals wishing to contact the sheriff’s department with non-emergency calls are still encouraged to call 223-6000.

The Sheriff also stated that his department has received the outcome of a recent law enforcement and critical needs assessment.
The study, funded by the Wythe–Bland Foundation, was performed by a consultant that is recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Department of Criminal Justice Services.

The Sheriff requested the Board of Supervisors accept the report as presented.

The Sheriff closed his report to the Board of Supervisors by speaking of a new Virginia law requiring county sheriffs and municipal police chiefs to issue permits to junk metal “dealers.”

Sheriff King says the law requires individuals who “regularly engage” in selling scrap metal to purchase a permit from local law enforcement.

The Virginia law requires said individuals to be fingerprinted and subjected to a background check, which cannot yield a felony conviction within the last three years.

According to King, homeowners removing materials from their own property, those who pick up aluminum cans beside the road and several other individuals are exempt from the law.

The Sheriff encourages individuals who believe they may be defined as a dealer to contact his office.

Max Meadows Volunteer Fire Department Meets New Challenges

by wytheCommunity

Dave Morris, Chief of the Max Meadows Volunteer Fire Department has watched Wythe County transform throughout the course of his lifetime.

Growing up in a very different era in Wythe County’s history – a time when the county was without a completed interstate highway and boasted of only two-thirds its present day population – the Max Meadows resident reminiscences about how different things were in the early 1960s.  “Back in those days we didn’t have a local fire department.  When we had a fire, firefighters would have to come all the way from Wytheville.”

Though they were fully committed to battling blazes throughout much of the county, the long and winding country roads, sometimes dozens of miles away, left the Wytheville Fire Department stretched thin in many areas.

“In 1965 we had a string of construction fires on the eastern end of the county and it became clear that we needed a separate fire department here,” notes Morris, who was a teenager at the time.

“My father was a firefighter at the Radford Arsenal and had previously served as a firefighter for both the Wytheville Fire Department and the US Army…  He got together some local guys and they formed the Max Meadows Volunteer Fire Department.”

With only $100 in annual funding from the county, Bill Morris, the first Chief of the Max Meadows Volunteer Fire Department, worked with the department’s founding members to secure a makeshift fire truck.

“The tank for the truck was donated by Smyth Oil and they kept it parked out in a field until enough funds were raised to build a fire house.”

In the years to come, great changes would come to the department and Wythe County.

Not only would Interstate 81 soon be completed, but eventually a second interstate would be built alongside I-81 – creating the most traveled stretch of highway in our region.

In 1994 the county purchased the department land, just a few hundred yards from the interstate.

A year later, the department’s new firehouse was unveiled.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Dave Morris not only serves as a firefighter at the Radford Arsenal, but also as Chief of the Max Meadows Volunteer Fire Department.

Morris, who joined the newly established department at the age of eighteen, says the challenges the department faces today were completely unimaginable to the original group of founders.

“The Gatorade factory is a million-square-foot building.  It, along with the several other factories in our coverage area, presents new risks and possibilities.”

To help meet these challenges, Wythe County, along with the Max Meadows Volunteer Fire  Department, has been on the forefront in preparing for worst case scenarios.

Part of that preparation is evidenced by the department’s newest fire truck—a rescue pumper capable of spraying 1,500 gallons of water per minute.

The truck, which was purchased by Wythe County, was furnished with money made available through a generous grant from the Wythe-Bland Foundation.

“Whether it’s a crash on the interstate or a disaster in Progress Park, this truck will undoubtedly have the power to save countless lives,” says Chief Morris.

The truck was purchased at the same time the County of Wythe purchased a fire truck for the Barren Spring Volunteer Fire Department and went in halves with the Town of Wytheville in the purchase of a similar vehicle for their fire department.  Both of those trucks were also furnished with grant money from the Wythe—Bland Foundation.

-Jeremy T.K. Farley

County Animal Shelter Using Social Media to Save Lives

by wytheGovernment

When your goal is reaching as many people as possible, Facebook is a pretty good place to start – with over one billion users, the website has a larger population than all but two of the world’s countries.

Tabitha Jackson, a worker at Wythe County’s Animal Control Building, has been taking advantage of social media in an effort to ensure the greatest number of dogs in the county’s care are adopted.

Since Jackson came onboard in January 2012 the county has worked to create an active presence in online communities – a move she says has helped tremendously in reaching perspective pet owners.

“Facebook has allowed us to reach out to a larger network of people than we ever before thought possible.  Because of the county’s online presence, our dogs have been transferred to humane organizations in Pennsylvania, New York and South Carolina.”

Each week she posts pictures of new dogs onto the county dog shelter’s Facebook page.  Those photos are initially seen by the shelter’s more than 900 followers, who then share the photos and news updates with their friends and followers.  Through Facebook alone, the shelter averages reaching over 8,000 different people weekly.

In addition to using Facebook, Jackson also maintains an account on PetFinder.com – a website whose stated mission is “to increase public awareness of the availability of high-quality adoptable pets,” and “increase the overall effectiveness of pet adoption programs across North America…”

Those interested in adopting a pet are encouraged to check out the shelter’s Facebook page:

Facebook.com/WytheCoDogShelter or give the shelter a call during hours of operation: 276-228-6003.  Dogs are also listed in the Trade Times each week.

The shelter is open to the public Monday through Saturday 3 to 5 p.m. and open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; Saturday 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Visitation at other times is by appointment only.

There is a $20 fee associated with adopting each dog and state law requires dogs over the age of six-months to be spayed or neutered within thirty days of adoption.

-Jeremy T.K. Farley