Loading...
04-11-2024 - Work SessionBUDGET WORK SESSION OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS HELD IN THE ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY GENERAL DISTRICT COURT LOCATED AT 17000 JOSIAH PARKER CIRCLE, ISLE OF WIGHT, VIRGINIA ON THURSDAY, THE ELEVENTH DAY OF APRIL IN THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY-FOUR BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Joel C. Acree, District 4, Chairman Don G. Rosie, II, District 5, Vice -Chairman Rudolph Jefferson, District 3 William M. McCarty, Sr., District 2 Renee Rountree, District 1 STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Randy R. Keaton, County Administrator Donald T. Robertson, Assistant County Administrator Robert W. Jones, Jr., County Attorney Carey Mills Storm, Clerk CALL TO ORDER Chairman Acree called the work session to order at 6:00 p.m. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Supervisor McCarty moved that the agenda be approved as amended to hear a brief presentation from Gregory Creswell relative to an electrical thermal incident which occurred at a surge arrester along the overhead feeder lines and resulted in a brush fire. The motion passed unanimously (5-0) with Supervisors Acree, Rosie, McCarty, Jefferson and Rountree voting in favor of the motion and no Supervisor voting against the motion. Mr. Gregory Creswell, Senior Development Manager with AES Clean Energy, briefed the Board regarding the April 9, 2024 electrical thermal incident which occurred at a surge arrester along the overhead feeder lines between Burwell's Bay Road and the Cavalier solar project substation along Mill Swamp Road. The event led to an 1 adjacent brush fire which contained a single parcel of land in the County. AES acted promptly according to the documented Emergency Response Plan and coordinated with emergency response personnel to contain and control the event. Isle of Wight Fire Rescue and the Virginia Department of Forestry are investigating the incident. AES continues to gather information about this incident in order to determine the root cause. Safety is AES' highest priority and they are committed to supporting safe communities where projects are built and operated. AES site personnel have been coordinating with Chief Garry Windley and thank him and the various rescue squads who responded to the incident for their coordination and efforts in containing the brush fire. They will continue to work closely with Isle of Wight Fire Rescue to determine if improvements can be made to the Emergency Response Plan. Garry Windley, Chief of Fire Rescue, responded to questions from the Board regarding response time, type of response vehicle and number of tankers. Man hours involved was 4.5 hours. An overview of current real estate tax rates for surrounding jurisdictions was provided. COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT County Administrator Keaton responded to questions from the Board regarding the proposed FY2024-25 Operating and Capital Budgets. County Attorney Jones notified the Board that the budget and Capital Improvements Program has been advertised in the newspapers and that the ad had run properly in The Tidewater News but did not run properly in The Smithfield Times. It is his recommendation that a public hearing still be conducted next week with the knowledge that another public hearing will be needed for the adoption of the Capital Budgets, related ordinances and the Capital Improvements Plan. ADJOURNMENT At 8:05 p.m., the work session was declared adjourned. Joel C. Acre , Chairma Carey W Is S orm, Clerk 2