Highland Supervisors Get Welcome News About Changes To Cooperative Extension Reorganization

Monterey, VA – The Highland County Board of Supervisors received some welcome news about the reorganization of the Virginia Cooperative Extension program at its meeting Tuesday evening. County Administrator Roberta Lambert read a letter from Dr. Alan Grant, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech.

“As many of you know, the discussions involving the Virginia Cooperative Extension restructuring are being met with significant opposition from various stakeholders” says the letter from Grant. “The restructuring process has been an attempt to develop an organizational structure that meets the needs of extension clientele within an environment of dimishing resources. However it’s clear that many stakeholders want to be much more engaged in the planning process; in fact this contentious situation is leading some stakeholders and employees to question Virginia Tech’s commitment to Extension.”

Dr. Grant’s letter goes on to note a significant change in the reorganization process. He notes that the process of restructuring has stopped until they can get more input from internal and external stakeholders about the process.

In other business, County Administrator Lambert reported that the Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission is assisting the county in applying for funds to build an access road to the swimming pool from Route 220. If the application is successful, these funds should pay the entire cost for construction of the new road.

Supervisor Rexrode will be meeting with BARC officials soon to discuss the power supply to the pump for the McDowell water system. Over the past several months, power has been too variable for the pump to run consistently.

Supervisor Sullenberger will be in Richmond later this week to confer with area legislators and agreed to join a meeting between the Highland School Board and Virginia Department of Education. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the important issues facing the Highland school system as its enrollment continues to decline.

The next regular meeting of the Highland County Board of Supervisors will be Tuesday, March first at 7:30 PM in Monterey.