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Volume 39, Number 20
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Service Authority to discuss water and sewer rate increases Phyllis Cook King George Service Authority will discuss specifics on proposed rate increases during special budget meeting on May 13. The authority was informed on April 21 of a change in state law shortening the lead-time for advertising proposed rate increases. Instead of 60 days as in past years, state law now requires a minimum of 20 days. That change gives the board more time to mull changes to rates and fees for the 2015-16 Fiscal Year, which begins July 1. The authority likely will scrutinize the latest option provided by Kyle Laux of Davenport & Company LLC, which serves as financial advisor to the King George County and the service authority. Laux presented four options on April 14 and as a fifth ‘hybrid’ option on April 21, which had been requested by Supervisor Joe Grzeika. The latest option would boost user rates, but impose a more gradual rise as part of a proposed five year plan to improve the authority’s financial footing. The plan leans on higher fixed debt-service fees to finance proposed capital improvements. Proposed capital projects add up to $9.75 million over the next five years, with a borrowing possibly anticipated in 2017 or 2018. The fixed bi-monthly debt-service fee currently covers only about 40 percent of annual debt-service costs. “Raising this fee at a proportionally faster pace will create a greater amount of fixed bi-monthly revenue that is not dependent upon the
amount of water used to cover debtservice payments,” Laux told the board last month. At the same time, raising fixed fees would also relieve the reliance on new connection fees for capital costs, particularly in slow-growth years. The options all provide fiveyear plans for incremental increases. For the current year, the minimum residential bill for customers with both water and sewer service using up to 5,000 gallons per two-month billing period is $118.20, including fixed debt service fees. If the rates in the latest option were adopted, the minimum residential bill for water and sewer customers using up to 5,000 gallons per twomonth billing period would go up by $11.60, to $129.80, including fixed fees. The county’s current ‘average’ residential bill for both water and sewer service is $175 and is based on usage of 9,000 gallons per twomonth billing period, including debt service fees. If the rates in the latest option were adopted, the average residential bill for water and sewer customers using 9,000 gallons per two-month billing period would go up by $14.40, to $189.40 per two-month billing including fixed fees. Similar increases would be proposed to continue over the successive four years of the five-year plan, though the authority could reconsider them on an annual basis. The service authority will meet at 6 p.m. on May 13 in the board room of the Revercomb Building to discuss the issue.
YMCA starts program for at-risk kids Phyllis Cook The King George Board of Supervisors recently heard about a pilot program by the King George Family YMCA to help fight summer learning loss for 20 academically atrisk elementary school children. YMCA executive director Elizabeth Taylor updated the supervisors on May 5 about the organization’s newest free community program and her goal of raising $30,000 to provide a full-day program for 20 rising third graders in conjunction with the King George School Division. “A child who does not read at the third-grade level is at-risk for being in what is called ‘the achievement gap’,” Taylor said, citing studies by the Southern Education Foundation. “We are providing 20 students with an opportunity that is intensive and intentional to help bridge that gap.” The Summer Learning Loss Prevention Program will enroll 20 rising third graders who are socioeconomically and academically atrisk for not being at the reading level for third grade. Taylor said the students are being identified by the school division and the program will take place at King George Elementary School with division teachers. It will provide bus transportation; breakfast, lunch and a snack daily, in addition to instruction provided by certified teachers and assistants each morning with personalized attention to each student. The morning instruction will focus on a multi-level literacy model,
Photo by Ray Blazer
Students in the King George Hight School Junior Builders program practice carpentry during class. The program teaches participants practice skills in the construction industry that they can put to work after graduation.
Ward, Blazer teaching vital skills to KG High School Junior Builders Richard Leggitt Charles Ward and Ray Blazer are changing futures of King George High School students by teaching them professional skills, leadership and how to build things. “We are so blessed to have the kids we have,” said Ward, who teaches carpentry at King George High School. “They want to be there.”
“Teaching these kids keep us young,” said Blazer, who teaches the students how to be electricians and perform other essential building skills. “The kids keep us going.” Ward has been a teacher at KGHS for 17 years. Blazer joined him seven years ago. Each day, they teach about 60 young men and women skills in the building trades that they can use later in life, whether as part of a career or working for themselves
and their families. The Junior Builders program is training a new generation of builders, remodelers, carpenters, welders, electricians and other building professionals. “We build walls, teach them about electricity and welding and we repair things,” Ward said. “Everything that we can do within the curriculum to teach them the See BUILDERS, page 8
See YMCA, page 8
Wittman tours O’Gara Group facility Ralph Bunche school exhibit open George Whitehurst First District Congressman Rob Wittman recently got a first-hand look at one of the facilities where military and diplomatic personnel learn cutting-edge techniques to protect American lives and property from the dangers of terrorism. The overview came during a tour of The O’Gara Group’s training compound in Montross. Led by a group of staff, Wittman got a detailed overview of the 380acre tactical training facility, which has developed into a virtual city. There members of the U.S. military’s elite fighting units, along with security personnel from America’s military and diplomatic allies, learn the ins and outs of defending diplomatic posts and staff from terrorist attack. Rob Ford, who manages the facility for The O’Gara Group, noted that facility staff not only train international visitors, they expose them to American culture, thereby strengthening ties between the United States and its allies. Terrorists, he noted, often try to recruit military personnel to
Phyllis Cook
Photo by George Whitehurst
Congressman Rob Wittman (left) gets insights on defense tactics from Mark Olson, lead instructor, at The O’Gara Group’s Montross facility. their ranks. Developing good relationships with those training at the O’Gara facility can counteract terrorist overtures. “[I]f someone tries to radicalize them, they think, ‘Those folks down in Montross are nice. I don’t want to do something bad to them’,” Ford said.
The tour included a look at the on-site hotel The O’Gara Group has created for housing, feeding and even entertaining those who come to train at the facility. The tour group then took a ride around portions of the facility’s offroad courses, its firing ranges and the defensive tactics training area.
The historical exhibit, “The Road to Desegregation in King George County, Virginia,” will remain on display at University of Mary Washington’s Dahlgren Campus until at least May 17. The exhibit was unveiled on April 21. The UMW-Dahlgren building is located at 4224 University Dr. The building is open throughout the day and into early evening. The display consists of eight large panels depicting the historical context of the integration of African-American education in King George from the 1940s through 1968. The exhibit was researched, designed and produced by the eleven students in UMW’s Museum Design and Interpretation course. The students in Dr. Cristina Turdean’s senior level course are Erin Clark, Theresa Cramer, Rebecca Hoehn, Julia Jin, Gil Kenner, Gabrielle Lindemann, Sarah Longenderfer, Margaret Lovitt, Paul Murphy, Dana Nordling, and Kara Saffos.
The exhibition details the King George’s early “separate but equal” one- and two-room schools and the legal fight for equal facilities that led to the construction of the Ralph Bunche High School in 1949 and eventually to school integration in 1968. UMW students interviewed former Ralph Bunche High School students and others involved with the historic school. The panels and all research materials have been turned over for use at Ralph Bunche High School, now designated a historic landmark, once it is renovated. King George Supervisor Ruby Brabo will feature the display as part of her town hall meeting at 7 p.m. on May 26 at UMW-D. It may also be exhibited in future months at the Dahlgren Museum, which is open noon-4 p.m. on Saturdays. The project came about through the efforts of Nadine Lucas, chairman of the Ralph Bunche Advisory Committee of King George, along with other members of the committee and of the Ralph Bunche Alumni Association,
including alumni association president Claudette Jordon. The exhibition is also scheduled be set up at King George High School June 1-3 for viewing by students along with a presentation/ panel discussion at the school. In addition to Jordan, members of the advisory committee are Elaine Harvey, Gwendolyn Lewis, James T. Johnson, John Davis, Kristin Tolliver, Gail Marshall, Linwood Thomas, Jim Howard and Tim Smith. The advisory committee is finalizing its charge to recommend to the King George Board of Supervisors on future uses of the Ralph Bunche High School building. It is currently vacant and in need of renovations and restorations. The advisory committee is considering asking to convert the building into the Ralph Bunche Community Center and Museum,.
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