Congratulations Patrick County. Thank you Patrick County. On November 5, you spoke with a loud and clear voice. You exercised your right to vote and the choice you made was for positive change in our county. Because of you, there are now three new members of the Board of Supervisors, three new members of the school board, a food and beverage tax, the re-election of four constitutional officers and three Directors of the Soil and Water Conservation District.
A big thank you to all the voters of Patrick County for listening to the facts and turning out in huge numbers to cast your ballot. The large turnout was a strong statement you demanded change in how your county was being governed.
Now it is incumbent on the supervisors-elect and new school board members to go to work. Each had priorities including a better working relationship between both boards. Time to start addressing those. However as residents of the county, all of us must understand the financial and administrative problems that have all but buried the county accumulated over a number of years. Therefore, they are not going to be resolved overnight. We all must exercise extreme patience as the Board of Supervisors builds a strategic plan to address taxes, healthcare, debt, revenue sources and expenses. After formulating a strategic plan, they must exercise the plan with reasonable timeliness.
As of year-end, Rickie Fulcher will be stepping down as chairman and retiring as the representative of the Peters Creek District. We greatly appreciate his years of service during some difficult years and working on an impossible budget; for hiring Davenport & Co. as a the financial advisor; and working to make sure they had the opportunity to explain the county’s financial issues to the public which helped demystify the budget and deficits. Thanks are also due to Dr. Lock Boyce and Karl Weiss for their willingness to serve on the Board of Supervisors.
Patrick County, you spoke and made very clear your desires by your vote. We thank everyone who voted, regardless of how you voted. The key is, you voted and the result was your choice.
God Bless Patrick County,
Patrick County Virginia
Political Action Committee