Photo by Aila Boyd
By Aila Boyd
aboyd@mainstreetnewspapers.com
Billy Martin, who represents the Blue Ridge District, was named chair during the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors 2020 reorganizational meeting last Tuesday.
Martin also served as chair in 2019.
Dr. Mac Scothorn, who represents the Valley District, was also selected to continue with his role as vice chair.
The votes for Martin and Scothorn were both unanimous.
Committee, commission, and board assignments for the members of the Board of Supervisors is as follows:
Billy Martin: Roanoke Regional Partnership, Social Services Board, TAP Board of Directors, Fire & EMS Committee, and General Fund Budget Committee
Mac Scothorn: General Fund Budget Committee and School Budget Committee
Steve Clinton: Parks and Recreation Committee, Library Board of Trustees, RVARC CEDS, RVARC Transportation, Planning, and Organization Policy Board, General Fund Budget Committee, and General Fund Budget Subcommittee
Ray Sloan: Planning Commission, Transportation Safety Committee, Fire & EMS Committee, Agriculture Projects Committee, and General Fund Budget Committee
Richard Bailey: Economic Development Authority, Agriculture Projects, Committee, General Fund Budget Committee, General Fund Budget Subcommittee, and School Budget Committee
“I think we’ve all done real well on those,” Martin said of the work that the members did on the committees the previous year.
Additionally, John Williamson will serve on the Budget Committee, Gary Larrowe will serve as the clerk to the board, and Susan Fain will serve as the deputy clerk to the board.
The Board of Supervisors also adopted the bylaws that will govern its meetings in 2020.
Gary Larrowe, county administrator, said that the following was added in order to hold the county accountable: “minutes of the Board of Supervisors’ meetings shall be posted electronically to the county’s website as soon as possible after board approval.” Larrowe added, “More transparency is what we’re looking for.”
The possibility of members being able to electronically attend meetings was also discussed, but no vote was taken due to concerns that the option might be abused.
The proposed measure stated that given that a quorum, a majority of the members, is physically present at the meeting, members would be able to electronically participate as long as all members are able to hear each other speak.
In order to participate electronically, a member would have to notify the chair on or before the day of the meeting that they won’t be able to attend the meeting due to a temporary or permanent disability or other medication condition preventing their physical presence or because of a personal matter. If a personal matter prevents a member from attending, under the proposed measure, they will have to identify the specific nature of the matter.
In the meeting minutes, the secretary would need to note the location from which the member participated from and why the member wasn’t able to attend the meeting in person. The option to electronically participate in meetings for personal matters would be capped at two meetings per year. If a member electronically participates in meetings due to medical reasons, they would be able to do so until their health permitted them to start attending in person again.
Additionally, the measure proposed that “The board may meet by electronic communication means without a quorum physically assembled at one location when the governor has declared a state of emergency, provided that the catastrophic nature of the declared emergency makes it impracticable or unsafe to assemble a quorum in a single location and the purpose of the meeting is to address the emergency.” If such an option was used, public notice would need to be given and arrangements would need to be made for public access to the meeting would be required.
The proposed change comes from a new provision from Richmond, Larrowe noted.
“I understand the advantage of electronic meetings and I’m all for making meetings as accessible as possible,” Clinton said, but went on to say that he’s participated in many electronic meetings in the past but that they allow for the loss of discipline. “Over time you just begin to lose some of the commitments, the sense of importance of the meetings.”
He went on to say that aside from medical reasons, he thinks very little should prevent members of the Board of Supervisors from attending meetings.
Scothorn added that he felt that medical purposes and a state of the emergency were suitable reasons for members to attend meetings electronically.
When asked if acceptable reasons for attending meetings electronically could be tightened, Michael Lockaby, the county attorney, said the personal matter option could be removed from the bylaws, leaving in the medical and state of emergency options. “I could suggest to you many, many different things that would be allowable,” he said. He went on to say that electronic attendance twice per year because of personal matters is the most that is allowed under state law, but that the Board of Supervisors weren’t required to permit electronic attendance because of personal matters at all.
Eventually, the board decided not to vote on the personal matter option and to discuss it further at a future meeting. The rest of the bylaws were approved.
Photo by Aila Boyd
