By Matt de Simone
At the April Botetourt County Board of Supervisors meeting last Tuesday, residents received time to make public comments regarding their concerns locally. Citizens made comments about supporting the request for the Library Board to transfer library-related personnel/finance governing to the county, road issues in the Buchanan and Amsterdam Districts, and the ongoing decision surrounding the future location of the Confederate Monument outside of the Botetourt County Circuit Courthouse in Fincastle.
VDOT Resident Engineer Ray Varney presented the board with a report from the highway department. He reported arriving at a completion date for the improvement projects along Route 220 and the FY 22-27 Secondary System Six-Year Plan. Varney offered to answer any questions made by citizens about road surface specifics and then touched on routine road maintenance and land development activities locally.
Buchanan Supervisor Amy White expanded on the public comment made about the road maintenance needed on Fringer Trail in Buchanan.
“I think that it’s very important that we understand how many people are asking for our help with this situation,” White said.
White mentioned that two other roads already on the secondary Six-Year Improvement Plan have a smaller traffic count than Fringer Trail’s (110 vehicles per day). She pointed out Fringer Trail is the second most traveled secondary road that isn’t a part of the improvement plan. White recognized that repairs could improve the road incrementally and motioned to add Fringer Trail to the improvement plan.
Next on the agenda was addressing the abandonment of State Route 733 in the Oriskany area. Developmental Services Manager David Givens mentioned that citizens had made no public comments about the abandonment before the meeting. The board then adopted the approval for the resolution request to abandon the 0.05 mile stretch of road in Oriskany.
Botetourt County Finance Director Tony Zerilla presented the accounts paid expenditures for April, approved by the board. Zerilla went on to present the advertised school budget of $65,227,144, which is an increase of $6,259,469. The budget includes funding for general school operations and self-sustaining funds. The proposed budget allows additional funding for the virtual academy. The board approved the motion.
