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Vol. XXIX No. 17
April 27, 2016
Public speaks up on county spending By Laura McFarland News Editor
POWHATAN – Public comments were pretty evenly split last week at the Powhatan County Board of Supervisors meeting between people who called for more fiscal responsibility and others who say the county has needs to be met. At the board’s meeting on Monday, April 18, a total of 18 people spoke during public hearings regarding the county’s fiscal year 2017 operating budget, proposed at $78.8 million without transfers; the FY 2017 Five-Year Capital Improvement Program (CIP), proposed at $80.2 million for capital projects and other capital programs, and the potential issuance of $54.5 million in bonds to
fund capital improvement needs. Statements from the public ranged from saying the county shouldn’t be burdening taxpayers with more debt to a call to meet public safety, education and other needs despite the cost. Near the end of the same meeting, Larry Nordvig, who represents District 2, introduced an idea to redirect budget funds and cut CIP projects in an effort to save money, but holes in the plan were pointed out that made it apparent the concept PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND wouldn’t fly with most of his fellow board Karla Curtis of Powhatan speaks during a public hearing at the board of members. supervisors meeting while others wait their turn to voice their opinions. Nordvig said he didn’t come to the meeting believing he had the numbers to Nordvig received both praise for the process after months of budget workhave a perfect solution, but he hoped his dialogue his proposal created and criti- shops. idea would spark a discussion that helped cism from some of his fellow board memachieve his purpose of cutting spending. see SPENDING page 3A bers for bringing up the idea so late in the
Powhatan goes green for Earth Day By Laura McFarland
Broadband situation a detriment to county
News Editor
By Laura McFarland
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OWHATAN – As Betty McCracken handed 8year-old Harry Strat a free rain gauge and told him about pollinators, he looked on with interest. When the Powhatan boy was asked what he learned from talking to McCracken about pollinators, he said simply, “they help plants grow.” For McCracken, chair of the Powhatan Earth Day Celebration committee, seeing Harry’s interest and excitement was a great start to the county’s annual recognition of Earth Day. Held on Wednesday, April 20 on the Powhatan County Courthouse Green, the event’s eighth year was marked by perfect weather and more vendors and people in attendance than in previous years, she said. But the best part was the interaction and learning that took
News Editor
PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND
Powhatan State Park education specialist Dan Gugliocciello talks about the park to attendees of the Powhatan Earth Day Celebration.
place as people learned about conservation efforts, the importance of water and soil quality, native plants and animals, and a variety of other topics that were touched on by participants in the celebration, said McCracken, conservation specialist for Mo-
see GREEN page 6A
New state park campground, canoe slide expected to open in the fall By Laura McFarland News Editor
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nacan Soil and Water Conservation District. “We want to perpetuate good environmental stewardship. We want to implant it in the future generation,” she said.
POWHATAN – With continued good weather in the coming months, work is on schedule to have Powhatan State Park’s new campgrounds and canoe/kayak slide open this fall, park officials say. The $3.9 million construction project should be completed in late summer and hopefully will be operational before the end of the camping season in November, Matthew O’Quinn, park manager, said. Construction, which was awarded to Kenbridge Construction, is on time at this point, he added. “The progress is weather dependant, but with a lot of sunny days ahead we hope the rain doesn’t cause a significant delay,” he said. For the still relatively fledgling
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park, which opened on July 6, 2013, having a new water/electric campground and a group campground will mean big changes, he said. “Overnight guests certainly tend to use the local restaurants, shops, gas stations and other business much more because of the length of their stay,” O’Quinn said. “While operationally, our park will only change some due to the addition of campers, it will truly be the county of Powhatan that will realize the most significant change in a positive way.”
POWHATAN – The results of a recent study show that Powhatan County’s lack of access to broadband is probably worse that people thought and is a growing detriment and liability to the county. Caroline Stolle, PHOTO BY LAURA MCFARLAND broadband program administrator for the Cen- Caroline Stolle speaks ter for Innovative Tech- about Powhatan’s nology (CIT), spoke to broadband situation. the Powhatan County Board of Supervisors during its meeting on Monday, April 18 about the results of a citizen broadband study. The study was conducted this winter with a goal of providing an in-depth look at the current broadband environment in the county, she said. This is part of an overall goal of expanding broadband throughout the county. CIT found that more than half of the residents in the study don’t have access to true broadband and aren’t likely to get it based on what is being offered by current providers. “Broadband affects everything. In this day and age, there is not really one part of the community’s life that doesn’t have some sort of impact in broadband,” Stolle said. “So when you are talking about the main issues that Powhatan is having, speed is definitely the biggest concern. When you have such slow speeds, they simply cannot support the larger applications. Especially moving into the future, that speed is just going to be useless.”
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A family style bathhouse has already been built for the water and electric campground, which will
The study looked at the responses of 392 Powhatan County residents, Stolle said. In looking at the participants, 44 percent of them were in an age group likely to have children in K-12 and 76 percent were in an age group likely to be in the workforce. More than 99 percent of respondents in the study use a computer and have one at home, she said. Only 9 percent of those asked said they have no access to Internet at all at home, but 90 percent of them are in the age group likely to have children and all of them are within the workforce age group, Stolle said. When asked why they don’t have Internet access at home, 89 percent of those said it isn’t available, 6
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