FERRING
Ferring said he was inspired to run after looking at the county’s finances for the past year and a half.
“I’m finding that there’s no pre-planning for a number of things. The county finances, they leave a bit to be desired in the way they are put together for the budget,” he said.
Many of the supervisors have no idea what expenses are contained in the line items on the budget, and “I would like to make sure that they all have a very good idea of what they are before they vote on the budget itself, and I’ve been doing some research on that particular thing,” he said.
While he has detailed some of his ideas to the board, Ferring said little had changed. “So, now I’m going to run and see if I can’t do more things and build an awareness of the fact that the budget, the true budget, should be vetted down to the budget line items,” he said.
He would like to see the county use a centralized purchasing department, through which departments would request goods and services. The centralized office “would eliminate excess or duplicate purchases as well as provide bulk discounts on goods that are needed throughout the county. More unique departmental requests for goods and services would be verified and all purchases subject to a bidding process which would be open to the public. We could see bids for those, we could buy in bulk by consolidating the needs of various departments. That would save us a good deal of money,” he said.
The county needs to earmark funds each year to pay for the replacement of maintenance equipment “so that it doesn’t constitute a major problem in the budget 10 or 12 years down the road. It’s already paid for,” he said.
“We have endured more than one case-in-point during this fiscal year: the replacement of 30 year old air conditioning equipment for the library and the 12 year old loader at the transfer station. Had we put aside money earmarked for their replacement, we would have had the funds to replace them without” the potential of a tax increase.
He also prefers a streamlined budget that is easy to understand.
“All of us are interested in where our tax money goes. Next year we should have a public operating budget that we all can read and understand easily,” Ferring said. “I am promoting that effort and want all budget line items to carry an explanation of the expenses tracked, current and anticipated, in each account. “I want to present next year’s budget in a fashion that almost every taxpayer in the county can take a look at it and say, ‘okay. I know what they’re spending their money on here,’ line by line in that budget,” he said.
While he believes it’s “probably a shot in the dark,” Ferring said it’s what he’s working on.
OVERBY
Overby said he applied to serve as the interim after Simmons departed, and considered running for the seat before then, “but at the time, I felt that Brandon would represent everyone’s interests appropriately, so I didn’t feel the need to run at that time,” he said.
Overby said his main reason for running is his desire to ensure that Patrick County is properly represented by people from Patrick County.
“That’s my number one thing. I don’t really like people that have come here and moved into the area and then try to recreate the area that they come from,” he said.
A Patrick County native, Overby said he’s lived here all his life except for the 15 years when he was in the military or working for the federal government. Once he had the opportunity to move back to the area during the COVID-19 pandemic, his interest in what’s going on locally was piqued.
“I feel drawn to do what I can to preserve Patrick County as the unique place that it is as well as work to improve the county in a fiscally responsible way. There’s a lot of speculation and a lot of things that go on in social media and at the meetings, where I really think a lot of information is not portrayed to the public well,” he said.
“I believe that communication between the county government and its citizens is of paramount importance, and I pledge to listen to the citizens and make decisions to maximize the benefit to all citizens, not just a select few,” Overby said.
“I think the main issue that I have with the board of supervisors is I don’t feel that they communicate well with the people, and that’s one thing that I hope to drastically improve by being on the board,” Overby said. “I think the public airs concerns and they don’t feel like their issues are being addressed, or their concerns are being addressed. That’s one of the things that I hope to improve. I definitely want to be able to listen to the opinions of everybody throughout the county, not just my district, and really make decisions based on, as much as I can tell, what everybody in the county wants.”
He vows to “not be just another vote for the status quo. I will be a voice for those that have often felt ignored, and I will ensure that our tax dollars are spent wisely. I welcome discussion on any topic that the board can change, but I also want to ensure that discussion includes facts and reality, not just conjecture and assumptions,” he said.
Overby said he also wants to help improve the county’s financial situation, and feels his financial background would be a benefit to the county.
