Floyd County Political News--December, 2008

The first issue the Floyd County Board of Supervisors dealt with on Tuesday (12/9/08) was Floyd County employee health insurance. Dan Campbell, Floyd County administrator, received two bids from providers, Anthem and Local Choice. Anthem's bid was 17.8 % above 2008. The decision was made to switch to Local Choice (Anthem is still the provider and the program is managed by the state of Virginia). The county contribution per employee will be $400 (includes dental care).

Korene Thompson, Town of Floyd manager, gave an update on projects in the town. There are many projects and opportunities for citizen involvement. Particularly, there is a great need for volunteers to work with the Partnership for Floyd/Town of Floyd on the Warren G. Lineberry Memorial Park development.

Woody Crenshaw and Pat Sharkey gave a presentation to the BOS on"Round the Mountain." RTM is a marketing effort to designate artisans, musicians, instrument makers, farms and supporting businesses and bring the customer to them. It is similar in concept to "The Crooked Road" but is even more extensive. Economically, RTM is creating many new jobs in our area.

Dr. Terry Arbogast, superintendent of Floyd County Schools, reported several achievements of the school system and its students. At Floyd County High School over 93% of eighth graders and over 97% of 11th graders passed the fall writing SOL. In addition, the number of students graduating on time from FCHS with a regular high school diploma is above the state average. Dr. Arbogast also stated that he will know the financial impact of the governor's budget after 12/17/08.

The public hearing for the 6-year plan for Floyd County roads will be on 2/10/09 at the county administration building at 7:00 PM. with an inclement weather date of 2/17/09.

Once again the BOS considered the memorandum of understanding with the humane society. Only David Ingram and I supported the MOU. It is very troubling to me that this agreement
was not approved. There is an obvious need for help at the animal shelter, a committed group of volunteers ready to assist and yet our governmental body is an impediment to this help.