Citizens, Reporter Turned Away From Public Meeting in Prince Edward County

I have only sources to rely on for this information, but I consider my sources to be 100% reliable.

Last week, I wrote about the meeting that was to be held at Hampden-Sydney College near Farmville, VA. The Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors had even sent me an invitation with hardly any notice, which is their usual and customary practice. Sometimes I get no notice at all.

Here is what I have heard:

My friend, who is a reporter, went to the meeting and saw a lot of people standing around talking. He and others were asked to leave when someone said a closed meeting was voted on. This friend looked around, didn’t see a meeting, just a lot of people milling about. He never saw or heard a motion or vote on a closed meeting.

So he went to the lobby, and he continued to see no meeting of any kind right through the door into the room. He asked again to come in, since everyone seemed to be just hanging around, and was told it was a closed meeting. It had not been advertised as a closed meeting in the extremely late meeting notice sent to me.

I was also told that a bunch of different boards and authorities were there as well, and according to my source, it looked like they were about to have lunch.

My source was also told that the Board was actually in a side room, and couldn’t even be seen from where he stood.

This is the way business is transacted in Prince Edward County. If you want the largess of the county bestowed on you, your name has to be right, or your pedigree. I will have much more about this facet of this story, as well as information about adjoining landowners where the Granite Hill development is due to take place, just as soon as the county is through flushing $35,000 an acre down the rathole, as they give someone another preferred deal that will likely fail.

Just like the land where the YMCA sits, where the Lowe’s store sits, the county will give the land to the IDA, who will then give it away for roughly $380,000, when it could be sold for up to $3.8m if the county had the best interests of the citizens at heart. Imagine what good could come of 3.8m…

Disgusting.

EFCA: Not For Unions, For Employees

One of the biggest misconceptions I have seen (although it could be purposeful misdirection) about the Employee Free Choice Act is that the Unions want this in order to get more money and have more clout. Nothing could be further from the truth.

EFCA is about employees being able to make the decision of what kind of vote they want when they are considering a union to represent them. Since 1935, there have been two ways to authorize a union in the workplace; majority sign-up or a National Labor Relations Board election process. These two choices will still exist under the new law, but the difference is that a majority of workers will decide the method rather than the employer.

I am not here to bash employers, quite the opposite. In my opinion, union representation makes things better for both the employee and the employer. However, let me cite some totally made up examples, based in fact, that happen when an employee or group of employees want to start a union in their workplace.

Fred works at a grocery store in Virginia. He and some of his co-workers are interested in starting a union, in order to ensure the rights of the employees in a variety of ways, and also to negotiate a living wage and decent benefits for himself and his family. Fred works at one of the chain stores that is not union, and compared his working conditions, pay and benefits to another employee at a union store.

Fred may or may not know his schedule very far in advance. He may only have a few days to adjust to a change in his schedule, such as working overnight or another change. Most times when he asks, he gets a schedule that allows him to visit the doctor, go on vacation with his family, and so on. In a union store, one of the working conditions may be that Fred knows his schedule a week in advance, and it cannot be changed without his approval.

Fred’s pay is about 30% less than comparable employees in a union store. Who couldn’t use more money in their paycheck?

Advancement and seniority at Fred’s store is not always taken as seriously as Fred and his co-workers would like. Management sometimes seems to promote ‘favorites’ or someone who works off the clock in order to gain favor with management. While working off the clock is against the Federal labor laws, Fred has seen it over and over again, how an employee will work sometimes 10-12 hours a day, while this employee’s performance is used to compare other workers to (such as Fred). Most union contracts have clauses that recognize seniority and longevity as a requirement for promotions or work assignments.

The current system ensures that employers get to choose which system of voting on union representation, not employees. It is not hard to believe that since the NLRB elections are not favorable to employees trying to organize a union, this method is the preferred choice of employers.  Even in this ‘free choice’ atmosphere, 30% of employers fire pro-union workers, 49% of employers threaten to close a worksite, but only 2% actually do. Further, 51% coerce or bribe employees, and that includes outright lies, so they will oppose union efforts, 92% of employers force employees to attend mandatory meetings against the unions.

I guess my biggest question is to the workers out there is: Why protect your multi-billion dollar employer from paying you a decent wage with benefits? Is it loyalty? Do you really think that the owners of the company is going to miss the extra money if he pays you a living wage? Employees deserve to share in the success of a company. Of course, stockholders have something to say about this as well.

ATT, a large company, and a union company, seems to have no problem paying a reasonable wage and decent benefits to its employees. They undoubtedly have shareholders, who it seems are content with the partnership formed by the various unions at ATT and the company itself. There are many other examples.

Before we get bogged down in all the hyperbole being thrown around about EFCA, lets take a real look at it and find out what it can do for us in the working class.

Please take a few minutes and write or call your senator about this issue. The addresses  and phone numbers are below.

Warner, Mark R.- (D – VA)
459A RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2023
Web Form: http://warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Contact

Webb, Jim- (D – VA)
248 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4024
Web Form: http://webb.senate.gov/contact/

How Much Has it Cost For Prince Edward County Water?

When talking about the failing idea for a public water system in Prince Edward County, you have to remember that a lot of money has been spent in advance of the actual design and building of the system, including the treatment plant.

There is no question that the money that was borrowed by Prince Edward County recently to pay the Town of Farmville for an aging, almost worthless part of the infrastructure; that money would not have to have been spent. Cost: $2.5m +

Draper Aden, who is the de facto County Engineer, also would not have been paid at least $100,000 for design work on this project. This was before the idea of Draper Aden and Crowder Construction submitting an unsolicited bid to design and build the treatment plant and the rest of the project. Of course, this means that Draper Aden would then be in a position to ask for and receive never-ending support from the County in order to maintain and expand the system. Currently, the ‘system’ has only one customer, The Manor (CDA Poplar Hill).

Staff time by the Planner and others in the County has cost a good bit of money I would imagine. Let’s just add another $250,000 for this, since the Planner and staff have worked on this for over 5 years.

Do you have costs associated with this project you would like to nominate? I don’t have them all, so if you have amounts and what they were spent for, let me know in the comments, and another article will keep track of the true cost.

One thing is for sure; if the County insists on going ahead with this project, the costs are going to go through the roof. Possible remedial action at the reservoir and additional engineering work, plus a possible change in design and size of a treatment plant.

$30m is what has been tossed around as a figure. I will bet that it will be $50m before it is through, if they go ahead and build it. Of course, I didn’t talk about legal fees in order to defend their actions, and we all know how expensive attorneys can be.

Prince Edward County Readies Another Land Giveaway

Prince Edward County, which sold county land in 2003 to a ‘friend’ of the chair of the Board of Supervisors for roughly 1/20th of what it was worth, is at it again. This time, they want to sell county land for $4,000 an acre, roughly 10 percent of it’s true value as a commercial property.

To make matters worse, this new development proposal is headed up by one of the original developers of the ‘Poplar Hill Resort and Golf Course’, a millstone around the neck of the county. Poplar Hill started as a CDA project, used Tobacco Commission money for a $700,000 water line to be built specifically for that development, and has been a complete failure even to this day. Clubhouse/Golf facilities and a Conference Center, were all planned at that location, and all the residents of Price Edward County heard about was the benefits to the county and the community at large. None of the drawbacks.

Many years later, the ‘Manor Resort’ is not the same project that was envisioned ten years ago. Nothing other than the golf course has been built, and there doesn’t seem to be any housing units or lots that have sold either.

So now here comes Robert Fowler, who wants to develop something called ‘Granite Falls Inn and Conference Center’. Since the stage has been set by other earlier catastrophic lack of success at the Manor, this group would like to buy 95 acres of county land that would then be used for development.

The price offered by Fowler? $4,000 per acre, or roughly 10 percent of the value of the land near the US 460 interchange if it were to be zoned commercial by the county in stead of agricultural use, which it presently is zoned as. It is also less than the county paid for the land when it bought it. No current appraisal of this land is available.

This is clearly a non-competitive process that favors only a few people, namely the group that wants to develop the land. If you or I wanted to buy that 95 acres, or even a portion of it, the price would likely be a lot higher.

In 2003, the Board sold land to Clayton Bryant for $225,000 that later listed for $3.75m. The county even paid a realtor, Sherry Hunneycut, $25,000 out of county funds for something, which no one seems to be able to figure out. The county owned the land, there was no need for a realtor, yet, this ‘commission’ was paid to someone who did nothing discernible to earn it. After the sale, even though various Supervisors asked about the transaction, the paperwork was put into hiding for over two years.

This sparked a Grand Jury proceeding, in which the County was represented by Jim Ennis, and the Grand Jury was instructed and led on its path by… Jim Ennis, acting in his capacity of Commonwealth’s Attorney. Ennis claimed to have recused himself, put no public record of that recusal has ever been seen.

Of course, the Grand Jury made some recommendations that have been ignored, and Buckie Fore and Howard Simpson and Jim Ennis all pretended everything was above board. I wrote about the response from one of the Supervisors here.

Will Prince Edward County give away some more land, and with it, the financial future of the county? Will they continue to develop a public drinking water supply from a reservoir which has a dump underneath it?

My guess is that yes, they will do these things until someone stops them. And that is exactly what is needed here, someone to step in and stop their destructive ways for the benefit of a few ‘special friends’ of the powers-that-be.

Prince Edward County Decides to Have Meeting at HSC; 1.5 Day Notice

Prince Edward County, in their quest to make the workings of government accessible to even more people, are holding a meeting this Wednesday, April 22, 2009, at 11AM. Why is it being held at Hampden Sydney College?

Maybe they need the room in one of the halls over there to hold the angry Prince Edward County residents. Maybe not. We won’t know, because like this meeting, there are usually no details about what is really being discussed.

My advice to those who want to see the so-called ‘table packet’ is to request one from the clerk at the meeting. After all, the law says that any agenda materials will be available  to the public at the same time they are available to the members of the public body.  (except those which are classified)

Be careful though. I requested to see a packet at a School Board meeting once, and before I knew it, they wanted to charge me $16 for it!

Where were we? Oh yeah, the meeting 7-10 miles from Farmville, where the meeting is usually held. I wanted to be notified of every single meeting, so I turned my email address in to the Clerk of the Administrator. I got this notice this afternoon, after it was sent at 4:50PM. That makes it 1.5 days notice, instead of the three days notice that is required by law.

Screen shot of email from PE County

Something else to talk to them about at their meeting. Actually I am just glad they told us there was a meeting, because, frankly, I expect that any day now.

I haven’t forgotten about the financial cost so far on that ill-fated water system. More on that soon.

{Note: Edited to correct distance from Farmville to HSC.}

5th Congressional District Dinner Photos

Congressman Tom Perriello with Patti Cooper-Jones of Prince Edward County.

It was a great night for a party, in honor of our Congressman, Tom Perriello. The dinner was held at the James River Conference Center in Lynchburg, last Saturday night, April 11, 2009.

Everyone had a great time, had some great food and conversation with other Democrats.

Mike Signer spoke on his own behalf. David Toscano spoke on behalf of Jody Wagner. Ward Armstrong, Fred Hudson and Levar Stoney all took turns speaking, leading up to the guest of honor.

Congressman Perriello gave a great speech and accepted well wishes on the recent passing of his father, Vito.

Enjoy the gallery below.

Congressman Tom Perriello with Patti Cooper-Jones of Prince Edward County.

Exclusive: Prince Edward County Builds Water System With Reservoir That Has a Dump in It

For several years, Prince Edward County has been rushing headlong into a water utility that makes no sense, on paper or otherwise.

Now it makes even less sense.

Over the last few weeks, information has come out locally that has people asking questions about a former dump in the county. The dump did not have a permit, or there would be a record of it. The agencies, both of the Commonwealth and the US Government, have searched their records to find nothing (so far) about this dump.

Sandy River Reservoir Map

The reason why this is so important is that Sandy River Reservoir, built by the county for supposedly an unknown purpose, has this dump sitting prominently in one section of it. The reservoir has been identified by the county as the source of water for a water utility in the county.

Reports in the Farmville newspaper (no link) from November of 2005 told of Prince Edward County being in the permitting process to use Sandy River Reservoir for a public drinking water supply. The article, written by the editor of that newspaper, also stated that the reservoir had been built for just this purpose.

Photo of Sandy River Reservoir With Highlighted Area of Dump

Draper Aden Associates did not locate the dump in their work on the water project or any tests or examination of the property. The Timmons Group also failed to find the dump in their test, research and examination of the property. The citizens of Prince Edward County researched this and brought it forward.

Citizens of Prince Edward County are rightfully upset at this latest revelation about the water system. The citizens who have been paying attention are very upset, and those who have not been paying attention are getting upset.

At various times, citizens of the county have been denied proper notice of public meetings, told erroneous or fictional information about this project, and one couple has been told recently, concerning creeks running into the reservoir:

We don’t have to test the creeks. We can treat anything.

Wade Bartlett, Prince Edward County Administrator

Survey Map from deed concerning this property.

Deed Book 165 showing the situation of the high-water mark and the dump.

Mostly, the citizens I have talked with want one thing: To be told the truth about the workings of the county and its finances.

In addition, my feeling is they are also:

Not interested in spending the hard-earned money of county taxpayers on the reservoir and the water system. The system has no customers, other than the Manor development on Rt. 15.

Interested in an examination of the ethical concern over hiring Draper Aden Associates and Crowder Construction to build a water treatment plant. Draper Aden has an annual contract with the county, and it would be a huge conflict of interest for the company to continue in any capacity on the water system project.

Address the ethical concerns about the County Attorney also being the Commonwealth Attorney. Prince Edward County has already lost out in Grand Jury proceedings in which there is no record of the Commonwealth’s Attorney recusing himself in the matter of the sale of land several years ago.

Prince Edward County residents, for whom I do not speak, deserve better government. The secretive nature of the county government leaves a bad impression on citizens, and it is illegal to conduct business out of the eyes of the public.

Next: How much money has been spent so far on a failed water system?