I see that His Excellency, County Administrator for Life Papa Doc Dalton has appointed a Director of Parks and Recreation and Tourism. Laying aside the fact that Parks and Recreation is a totally different field than Tourism, and the official designation of the department is simply Parks and Recreation, what about the $811,146.60 Dalton has misappropriated over the last decade? This is the amount of money that, as of last month, (it’s more now,) the County was, according to VA State Code, supposed to have spent on tourism. Instead, it went into the general fund to help pay for the Lot 24 Project, Dalton’s White Elephant. Since the money is collected on a monthly basis and is supposed to be spent on a monthly basis, Papa Doc has knowingly racked up over 100 violations of state law. How long should the citizens of this county have to put up with this arrogant asshole?
Dalton’s commitment to tourism is a joke. Five years ago, this was the guy who tried to help Duke Power build a gas fired power plant on the New River, the county’s greatest natural resource, next to Foster Falls State Park, one of Virginia’s premiere state parks. That would have been a real boon to tourism.
No, Dalton hired Liberty University graduate Gary Cody to head up a newly designated Department of Parks and Recreation and Tourism to cover his ass. Maybe it’s time for Commonwealth Attorney Jerry Mabe to empanel a grand jury to look into the operations of the County Administrator’s Office.
Update on BOS meeting 7/26/11
Guess what, no mention of $800grand or tourism!!!
Beth Crigger presented the board w the EMS/FD grant proposals for the Wythe Bland Foundation. About $142,000 worth of equip for both EMS& FD stuff. It is a shame that Lead Mines, Barren Springs & RR don’t feel they can partake because of the “strings” the county &WBF puts along with it.
I asked that they NOT pay dues(upwards of $15,000) to the National Organization of Counties because they have adopted all this Green Inituative,social equity,global governance,restrictive rights,sustainable developement(it’s not what you think),return all to wildness policy stuff that is ANTI- life as we know it. (all I got was blank stares,usual-I almost want to bring a stethoscope along to see if they’re breathing!) With my 2nd breath, I made reference to the 2 commissioners of accounts,1 commiss of revenue,treasurer,assessor,computer coordinator & 2 admistrators = 8 people and add staff. With the NEW investment in finance dir.( @$77,000+++) we should be able NOW to reconcile the books & become more efficient.Soooooooo, we will anxiously await the reduction in county personnal since they won’t need so many people,right?
They recognized Billy Joe Chandler & the RR Eagle Scouts who made benches & did other work to enhance RR Park.
Sam Crockett gave his report & said he wants to move about some of his budget to fit in use of an National Change of Address Program to help eliminate wasted postage.
Sheriff King said they got an award from the National Sheriffs Assoc. for traffic safety. He’s hoping this redistricting will not affect jails & will keep an eye on that issue. He said they also intervened on some gold buying business, it’s not allowed w/o special certification & permittes. Also they got approval for the tower on Walker Mt. to be moved to FS lands, that;s to happen soon.
No water for Jackson School. They need a new line. County to investigate funding for it.
Pat Pizinger was appointed to the Rec. Commission,they need 1 more person.
Brock Hughes Clinic wants to meet w county to look into old SS building.
BOS approved a Fund Balance Policy, means they’ll keep 20% of county $$ unused.
The state is giving each FD $1,012 for fire programs.
That is the meat of the meeting. They were meeting w Lead Mines Rescue about response time tonite @5PM.
Alittle more yada,yada-nothing of consequence.
PS:They’re advertising for a “Information Officer/Grant Coordinator”-just in case you know someone. OH, the new Rec guy is getting $36grandish(Dalton wasn’t sure) & we haven’t had a rec. director in 2 yrs-DID WE NEED ONE NOW?
seems to me that they should have used an in house resource that has done the Rec Director position very well over the past 2 years and was not compensated for her great work!
IT director still has no help & working a 3 person job all alone. They have advertised for Grant Coordinator for years and have had multiple interviews and then table the position…so who has been doing this job since it was vacated?
bob: “was not compensated for her great work!” If SHE was so GREAT, SHE would be the new Rec Director. I’ve never seen anything GREAT from HER. If anyone should be compensated for a GREAT job, it should HE who has been there for YEARS and loves the kids of Wythe County! Maybe this new Rec Director will see the need to clean house and set this dept straight. Maybe it will flow down and up and the entire building will be “house cleaned”. Which is what it truly needs.
Linda, It would serve you well to know more about the subjects you expound upon… otherwise you might be considered a crackpot.
The $142,000 EMD & FD Grant’s “strings” you mention are that each department shall get the same brand of turnout gear. One department has requested gear that is almost twice as expensive as what the other departments have agreed to. At this inflated price, only half of the department could get new equipment.
As for some of the other issues… The county staffing has been run at such a low level as to only be able to “put out fires”.
If you thing the taxes in Wythe County are outrageous then you REALLY need to open your eyes. Check the tax rates here vs. other counties in the area. Wythe Co. is $2.08 / $100 for Personal Property (PP) and $0.44 / $100 for Real Estate (RE).
Smyth Co. is $2.25 for PP and $0.69 for RE.
Carroll Co. is $1.60 for PP and $0.595 for RE.
Pulaski Co. only lists their RE rate at $0.54
Roanoke Co. is $3.50 for PP and $1.09 for RE.
For a more complete list of Real Estate rates look at: http://www.teamlinkhome.com/new_river_valley_tax_rates.htm
(Wythe County has a lower rate than any of the counties listed.)
Honestly I think he and her have done a great job keeping the lake going and the sports. to the previous poster do u have kids that play county sports??
Taxes here are good. County staffing ; just refering to the last 2 audits-they suggested that the financial books be reconciled. Since we’re paying our 2 administrators over $200,000(this incl. benefits) don’t you think they could have taken the inituative to perhaps learn the computer system to reconcile books & put a feather in their own caps? 8 top people plus employees, that’s well over 1/2 a million $$$$$ & we need to HIRE another person.
The JIDA is forking over $28,000 FOR DUES to the Mt. Rogers Deve. Partnership. I contacted them & asked if they had a DVD of Progress Pk & Wythe Co, what publications did the advertise our industrial pk in-national & international etc. Anyway,no, no & no. They contract this “advertising” out. So this is someones very smart idea to set up a “partnership” which seems to be a money pyramid. Could our very well paid IDA try Linkedin, & other social media FREE promotions-could they multi-task & save $28 grand?
View the county line item budget, check out those 278 pages of budget memos-use a pencil & highlighter. You’ll have ?’s too. hope to see YOU at the next BOS meeting 8/9 @7PM.
i didn’t say anything about anyone running a lake?? my family prefers to go to claytor lake. yes i did have kids that played in county sports. thank goodness they no longer have to be involved with anything or anyone at the county. again, a good house cleaning needs to take place; from the top, all the way to the bottom in all depts.
BOS UPADATE 8/9/2011 MEETING
!st & most important:WE HAVE GOOD WATER AT JACKSON SCHOOL, ALL IS OK for opening. But the BOS had no knowlegde of what was going on, & Dalton told me(us) that the water was not potable as of last night. They didn’t know what when or how except that they got 14 grand from Mt. Rogers Deve. for a tech study.
Soooooo, I called & got the scoop from Wesley Poole at BOE. Seems in Feb., testing showed some organic containents in some samples & not others. They were on alert & did another battery-yes & no again, but levels were within bounds & monitering continued. All is SAFE at Jackson . Mr. Poole did say that w recent renovations they included the capability to hook to municipal water should it become available(good thinkin’). So you all know more than Dalton, who, if he goes to Jackson will be bringing his own water.
The Boy Scout, Billy Joe Chandler, was honored with a plaque for all the work he did at RR Lake. This is a lovely young man who built benches , installed playground equipment & worked on the playing fields there. We even saw pic of his work. Great community spirit & a credit to the county.
A road has been formerly deemed Harley Lane, this is off Barrett Mills Road & this name was requested by the residents there.
Our new Mr. Cody, REC & Tour director, spoke about his new job. He’s put together a survey for county residents, not town, to assess their desires. Asked the board for $1,402 dollars for printing & mailing, & he’s going to go to some local activities to scout out info. He also wants to put out a “seasonal” brochure in the future. Looks like there is a tourism committee & they’re figuring out a “mission statement”.
Barren Springs waterworks, which is private, is not doing a good monitoring job according to the state. They passed this problem off to the water committee to look into.
The BOS authorized the Wythe United Soccer Club to develope the fields at Ager Park/they got grant money(300,000) & now thay can do it. Good job WUS club.
They paid invoices,they run thru these at 100mph so we don’t see or know much!
Under new business: Dalton had a letter from Va Division of Mines informing the county of Grand View Farms(near his Progress PK) that wants to do lime mining. Dalton thinks that it might cause some shakin’ & rattling at PP so he wants a Public Hearing on this matter & of course they agreed.
That’s the crux of this Tuesdays meeting,
it was over in about the usual hour.
See you all on Tues, 8/23 at 9AM for the next installent of The Dalton Show!
BOS meeting of 9/13/2011
All accounted for! Citizens time brought forth a few people, the more the merrier.
I had asked about cell phones &/or blackberries, that we (YOU) pay for. Mr. Bear siad we have 16 cells in use/7 of which are blackberries-your tax dollar at work?????? I asked Mr. McDaniels if he had any infor on the Va Corridors promotion of PPK? He produced the pages printed off the website. I said I was aware of that info & had expected a sachel of periodicals & CD. No such luck at this time, maybe he can come up with something in the future, definitely NO CD. He did say he was sure it was part of a promotional at a “car show in Detroit”. I guess that’s the international coverage we paying for!!!! I also asked how much, in addition to the 20million of taxpayers money, have we gotten in grants for this PPK. Dalton said perhaps in the neighborhood of another 30 millionish. Don’t forget that’s also out of your pocket but just thru the feds.
Paul Turpin, chairman of the Tourism committee passed out updates to the lodging tax law. They also tweaked their mission statement, & fine lined $$ info. They would like the 60% accumulated from taxes of 2010&11 as their budget. BOS are taking this all under consideration.Another day, another month, another shrug..
Beth Crigger, WCo. EMS asked when they could meet about finances? They were not addressing this at all,sat there mute & glassy-eyed.
My turn again: I got up & told them that I, and all of of them were potential users of EMS services. I asked why they could not give us a meeting date,as the NEW financial director & everyone was in attendance? They gave accolades to them at the service on Sunday but could not address the EMS community needs on Tuesday. This is a vital service,WCo EMS
has already fielded over 1,400 calls to date not including RR & Lead Mines. Houseman’s neck veins were clearly visible…Dalton was squirming & Bucky was a stuttering! Houseman said they were going to meet…..I produced a calendar….still no date!
Several other people from the EMS community spoke..but were they heard?Note:THERE IS A PETITION CIRCULATING ASKING THE BOS TO ADDRESS THE FINANCIAL NEEDS OF THESE ORGANIZATIONS-PLEASE SIGN IT.
On to-moving grading materials at PPk;asking the county attorney to look into noise ordainances;grant received from Mt. Rogers for$14,750 for Jackson School water issue;date set (9/28,4to6PM) for public hearing on I-81/77 upgrade w possible direct access to PPk;4-H Ext. Agent resigning 10/9/11-BOS will send state a letter of need;public hearing ,10/11 on Mt. Rogers water supply plan; Dalton getting basketball court repair estimates:invoices paid & Dalton is going on vacation next week.
That’s the crux of it-next regular meeting 9AM 9/27.
It’s nice we have someone representing the citizens of the Wythe county area…thanks Linda. I’m still in awe over the blackberry cell phones we are paying for out of our tax dollars. I carry a simple phone, because of taxes being too high to afford a nicer one. So why would these USERS expect the citizens to willingly want to pay for their use of cell phones? Will be watching for more news on that topic.
Entitled!!!
We have alot of people that figure they’re entitled, & they figure NOBODY will find out . Well, we’re lookin’!!!!
Just got my tax bill/I’m ok with it but we could better utilize our $$$$$s.