Amherst supervisors revisit moving some meetings to Madison Heights

In a surprise move last week, the chairman of the Amherst Board of Supervisors resurrected the issue of whether to have some board meetings in Madison Heights –– and this time the measure was approved in another split vote.

The chairman, Madison Heights-area Supervisor Frank Campbell, proposed to move two of the board’s meetings, one in the spring and another in the fall, and the vote was 3-2, with Supervisor Don Kidd and David W. Pugh Jr. voting in favor.

Temperance-area Supervisor Claudia Tucker voted against it, as did Amherst-area Supervisor Robert Curd.

Pugh changed his vote. In the board’s first meeting this month, the vote was 3-2 to keep the meetings in Amherst, with Pugh, Tucker and Curd voting for it.

Tucker said she did not intend to change her position, because residents in her area would have to drive too far (about 25 miles) to reach a meeting in Madison Heights.

Amherst is the logical midway point and less of a burden for northwestern-county residents, she contended.

“It’s a population-based issue,” Campbell said, because most county residents live in Madison Heights.

“This had already been decided” at the board’s 3 p.m. meeting, when the supervisors adopted their annual schedule, among other things, Tucker said afterward.

In other business, the board did not make a decision on a proposal by Amherst County Public Schools to give employees a one-time bonus.

The bonuses would be paid for with $400,000 from $1 million the supervisors allocated for school improvements, and $57,691 left over after an audit, and would come from the existing 2010-11 budget.

Fulltime county employees got $1,500 bonuses last year, and eligible part-time employees got $500.

School employees haven’t got raises for three years.

“Our folks are hurting,” first reference School Superintendent Brian Ratliff said. “It’s much needed, I think it’s required, actually.”

“The $1 million was for facility maintenance,” Supervisor Kidd said, and asked how the school district could restore $400,000, given a challenging budget year ahead. Last week, Ratliff told school board members that if Gov. Bob McDonnell’s budget is approved as requested, Amherst County Public Schools could face a deficit as high as $3.6 million.

Kidd and Pugh said they were not ready to take action, and Campbell agreed.