My comments to the Caroline County Board of Supervisors at their September 23rd meeting.

At the September 8th, 2008, meeting of the Caroline County Board of Supervisors, the board approved the following item on their consent agenda: Adoption of a Resolution that Revises the June 24, 2008 Budget Resolution to Incorporate Errors and Omission that Were Approved by the Board during Budget Discussions.

Item #2 in the resolution was the following:

Davenport [& Company LLC, the firm hired to help with preparing this year’s budget] learned after the June 24, 2008 Budget Resolution adoption that in July 2007 the Board adopted an increased in the Board of Supervisors’ salaries. Therefore this was not included in the original Budget Resolution.

The resolution stated that this would have the following impact on general fund expenditures:

[…] 1) a $25,518 [possibly a typo and should be $23,518 -ed.] increase in the Board of Supervisors budget to compensate for the increase in the Board’s salaries […]

$23,518 increase. That accounts for a $4,703.60 increase per supervisor. That’s a 26.43% increase in pay compared to last year.

Meanwhile, members of the county staff only received a 2% salary increase this year. So, unless someone on the county staff makes $235,180, not only did the Board receive a bigger percentage increase, the Board also received a bigger net increase as well compared to anyone on county staff.

This pay increase was approved after the tax rate in county was increased by $0.05/$100 during a sagging economy. This pay increase was approved after the supervisors learned there was a $755,321 shortfall from the last fiscal year.

To make this matter even worst — as if that was possible — the board a hour and half later later told the Ladysmith Volunteer Fire Department that the Board and the county had no idea where they would find the money necessary to finish paying for a fire truck.

The cost to finish paying for the fire truck? $25,000 to $30,000 dollars.

Those aren’t the only problems with the pay increase.

According to the summary for the consent agenda item, this pay increase was approved by the Board in July 2007.

However, § 15.2-1414.2 of the Code of Virginia requires a pay increase such as this to be adopted “prior to July 1” of the year that the board will be up for election:

Prior to July 1 of the year in which members of the board of supervisors are to be elected or, if the board is elected for staggered terms, of any year in which at least forty percent of the members of the board are to be elected, the current board, by a recorded vote of a majority present, shall set a maximum annual compensation which will become effective as of January 1 of the next year.

The last I checked a meeting in July isn’t “prior to July 1”.

Thank you for your time.

They didn’t have anything to say about that, by the way.

Remember VSE? That defense subcontractor that Gary Wilson et al. tout as an economic development success?

Yeah, they’re in the process of getting fined $17,400 for violating numerous environmental regulations (Link [PDF]):

SECTION C: Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law

  1. VSE is a publicly traded professional services company that provides engineering and technical support services to the U.S. Government.
  2. The VSE Facility which is the subject of this Order, is the Ladysmith Blast and Paint Facility, located at 17253 Center Drive in Ladysmith, Virginia.
  3. At the Facility, VSE generates waste paint and related material, spent blast media, spent solvents, used wipes, and used personal protective equipment as part of its blast and paint operations.
  4. 4. VSE notified DEQ of the Facility’s status as a CESQG on December 29, 1992, and amended its status as a SQG on August 13, 2007.
  5. DEQ staff conducted a hazardous waste compliance evaluation inspection at the Facility on January 25, 2008.
  6. Waste generation records reviewed onsite at the January 25, 2008 inspection showed that the Facility has been a LQG for at least three years.
  7. VSE notified DEQ by letter dated February 25, 2008, of its current LQG status. VSE also noted in this letter that the Facility had exceeded SQG status in 2005 and 2006, and that VSE was prepared to pay arrearage and current application fees for LQG status at this site as may be stipulated by DEQ.
  8. On May 22, 2008, DEQ issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) to VSE that set forth the following violations of the Regulations observed during the January 25, 2008 inspection:
    • Failure to make a hazardous waste determination in accordance with 40 CFR 262.1 1.
    • Failure to properly complete a manifest in accordance with 40 CFR 262.20(a).
    • Failure to label containers before transportation off-site with the words and information required by 40 CFR 262.32(b).
    • Failure to store waste in containers complying with the requirements set forth in 40 CFR 262.34(a)(l)(i) and 265 Subpart CC.
    • Failure to label waste containers with the dates that the hazardous waste began accumulating in accordance with 40 CFR 262.34(a)(2).
    • Failure to label containers storing hazardous waste with the words “hazardous waste” as required by 40 CFR 262.34(a)(3).
    • Violation of 40 CFR 262.34(c)(1)f or accumulating more than one 55-gallon container of hazardous waste at or near any point of generation.
    • Failure to provide hazardous waste management and emergency procedure training to personnel, failure to make arrangements with local authorities, and failure to have a contingency plan, as required by 40 CFR 262.34(a)(4) and 265 Subparts C and D.
    • Failure to properly close containers holding hazardous waste during storage as required by 40 CFR 262.34(a)(l)(i) and 265.173(a).
    • Failure to inspect areas where containers are stored at least weekly as required by 40 CFR 262.34(a)(l)(i) and 265.174.
    • Failure to label or mark universal waste, and failure to label containers holding universal waste batteries with the date the waste began accumulating in accordance with 40 CFR 273.14 and 40 CFR 273.15(c).
    • Failure to notify the Department of the location of hazardous waste accumulation areas as required by 9 VAC 20-60-262.B.4 and 40 CFR 262.34(c).
    • Failure to notify the Department of LQG status as required by 9 VAC 20-60-3 15.D.
  9. While not noted in the May 22,2008 NOV, the Facility failed to pay the LQG annual fees required by 9 VAC 20-60-1283 through 1285 for the years 2005, 2006, and 2007.
  10. VSE representatives met with DEQ on June 12, 2008 to discuss the violations noted in the May 22, 2008 NOV, and the current enforcement action.
  11. The development and maintenance of a compliance binder as required by Appendix A of this Order, will better ensure that the Facility operates in compliance with the Applicable hazardous waste regulations.

SECTION D: Agreement and Order

Accordingly, the Virginia Waste Management Board, by virtue of the authority granted it in Va. Code §§ 10.1 – 1402, 10.1 – 1405, and 10.1 – 1455, orders VSE Corporation, and VSE Corporation agrees to perform the actions described in Appendix A of this Order. In addition, the Board orders VSE Corporation, and VSE Corporation voluntarily agrees, to pay a civil charge of $17,400.00 within 30 days of the effective date of the Order in settlement of the violations cited in this Order. Payment shall be made by check payable to the “Treasurer of Virginia”, delivered to:

Receipts Control
Department of Environmental Quality
Post Office Box 1104
Richmond, Virginia 23218

The payment shall include VSE Corporation’s Federal Tax ID number and shall state that it is being tendered in payment of the civil charges assessed under this Order.

Bravo.

Presidential debate drinking game.

I wished I had come up with this. From Michelle Malkin’s blog:

A reader proposes the first drinking game suggestion:

Michelle, how about a college-style drinking game tonight – where everyone takes a drink whenever Obama says “Bush” – in his laughably ridiculous ongoing effort to link McCain to Bush.

If you’re looking to get inebriated quickly, start drinking every time Obama says “Uh.”

Or every time McCain touts bipartisanship.

And no, I didn’t watch the Presidential debate. I had no desire to get in a yelling contest with the television that late in the night.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll do a live hate-blog next time.

$700,000,000,000 here, $700,000,000,000 there; soon we’re talking about real money.

RWL:

Check out what Rick Sincere found over at Forbes (emphasis added):

In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.

“It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”

Good job ignoring the fact that Jeff Sili violated the Code of Virginia. And other stupidity from this week’s BOS meeting.

What, that’s the second or third time, right? It’s hard to keep track.

The Caroline County Board of Supervisors approved the rezoning of Belmont North 3–2 on Tuesday night. Supervisors Bobby Popowicz, Maxie Rozell, and Chairman Floyd Thomas voted to approve while Supervisors Wayne Acors and Jeff Sili voted against the rezoning.

Wayne Acors had his reasons (too much development in that area already); but Jeff Sili employed a logical fallacy (imagine that!) of a slippery slope argument stating that, “if we approve Belmont North, we have to also approve this 600 house subdivision working its way through the planning commission!”, instead of addressing Belmont North on its own merits.

As Chairman Floyd Thomas pointed out, the Code of Virginia requires that a rezoning/special exemption request or permit be accessed individually and on its own merits. To do otherwise is a violation of the Code of Virginia.

Here’s how The Free Lance–Fish Wrap wrote it up:

Supervisors Wayne Acors and Jeff Sili argued the board should not be creating more home sites when it has thousands of unbuilt residential lots and more development proposals in the pipeline.

Actually, Wayne Acors did not argue the second point. If you had paid attention, you would heard him say he thought there was too much development in that area already and not that were any other rezoning applicants coming forward.

[…]

He [Jeff Sili] also referenced another rezoning request by a different developer for more than 600 homes that is under review by the Planning Commission.

Sili noted that while he should consider the proposal based on its own merits, he was looking at the bigger picture, including other proposals.

“I don’t think we can fool ourselves by saying we are looking at one development,” he said.

[…]

[Chairman Floyd] Thomas [who represents the district the proposed rezoning is in] said he was going to look at the proposal individually. He noted tangible benefits to the county, such as the fire station.

“I can’t worry about what the next project or the next development is,” he said.

[…]

[Bobby] Popowicz said the Sealys went “above and beyond” to make their proposal attractive to the county.

To say the least.

The county’s stated proffer policy is $17,632.36 per house.

The Sealys proffered over $12,800,000 (if I remember the number correctly) for Belmont North which is a 530 home development. That’s over $24,150 per house. That’s 36% more than the county’s stated policy!

Included in that proffer is the land for, and the design and the construction of a new fire station that must been completed within 30 months.

There’s the 20 acres for the school at a mutually agreed upon location with the Sealys providing soil testing to the county for free.

Improvements to the roads in the area.

Berms and barriers next to existing land owners above and beyond the county’s stated policy on berms and barriers.

Prepayments to the county’s utility system that will pay for the borrowing on the infrastructure for the system for the next three years.

But that’s too technical for The Fish Wrap to mention, after all, they had to make space in that story for the important and pressing information that golf carts can now be used on public roads in the Caroline Pines subdivision.

Yeah, folks, that’s the hard news coming out of the Caroline County Board of Supervisors meeting this week.

More bailout-palazoo: $25,000,000,000 in loans to the auto industry.

Over at Michelle Malkin’s blog:

The bailout binge continues apace. I’ve pointed out to you already that both Barack Obama and John McCain support the $25 billion automakers’ bailout. It’s speeding through Congress as we speak. President Bush will sign it this week after both parties fall in line and pass it (vote is expected in the House tonight).

Read the whole thing as they say.

Heartache: Eric Cantor* supporting bailout-palooza as well.

I must say, I like Eric Cantor*. I agree with him in most situations. But this time, he’s just plain wrong:

During an election season when many Republicans had tried to distance themselves from Bush, Cantor[*] said most lawmakers were taking cues from Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and were eager to act quickly on the plan.

“We have to do something to make sure our capital markets remain viable and remain robust,” said Rep. Eric I. Cantor[*], R-7th.

*The Democratic National Committee would like me to remind you that Eric Cantor (7th-VA) is a Jew, just like Jack Abramoff.

Rob Wittman is supporting bailout-palooza.

Of course he is. He also manages to prove that he doesn’t know jack about economics.

I mean come on, you didn’t seriously expect him to find any budget cuts (as he promised) to pay for those $132,500,000 in earmarks that he requested, did you?

Now he’s supporting a $700,000,000,000 bailout proposal (I think that’s the right amount of zeros).

You know, I don’t know jack about economics (don’t really care to, either), but at least I know to keep my mouth shut about the situation.

The Free Lance–Star sends nastygram to yours truly over the posting of an obituary (which they have no copyright claim to in the first place).

On September 9, 2008, I noted the passing of School Board member Bill Anderson.

On September 10, 2008, at or around 12:49 a.m., I updated the original post with the death announcement that appeared in The Free Lance–Star.

On September 11, 2008, at or around 3:24 a.m., I updated the original post by posting the full obituary for Mr. Anderson that appeared in the paper.

Today, September 23, 2008, at 12:17 p.m., I received the following e-mail [emphasis mine]:

Brian Baer <bbaer@fredericksburg.com> Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 12:17 PM

To: [redacted]

Hi Tim,

I’m writing to notify you that you have violated The Free Lance-Star’s copyright by posting an entire newspaper obituary for William Anderson on your blog.
Here’s a link to our permissions policy – should you see other content in the future on fredericksburg.com that you want to take: http://fredericksburg.com/News/Web/permissions
Thanks in advance for changing the post.
Have a great day.

– Brian Baer
online managing editor, The Free Lance-Star

Yeah, folks, that’s real.

My first reply to Mr. Baer:

The last time I checked, the obituaries are sent to your paper by the funeral home, ipso facto, you have no copyright claim to them. Otherwise, you should pursue legal action against Storke Funeral Home for their website.

You folks aren’t the brightest, are you?

And thanks for the blog post.

“Paper complains about use of obituary”. Classy.

A follow-up reply I sent to him:

And isn’t it a violation of federal law to fraudulently claim to have the copyright authority over published works?

And sure enough, it is!:

Just so you know Mr. Baur, 17 U.S.C. § 506 (2007) reads, in part:

(c) Fraudulent Copyright Notice.— Any person who, with fraudulent intent, places on any article a notice of copyright or words of the same purport that such person knows to be false, or who, with fraudulent intent, publicly distributes or imports for public distribution any article bearing such notice or words that such person knows to be false, shall be fined not more than $2,500.

I will be forwarding this e-mail, both electronically and via snail mail, to the local United States Attorney for the Richmond Division for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Further e-mails from you or anyone else at your organization will result in me seeking judicial relief for harassment and/or stalking.

Thank you,
Timothy Watson

What a rag…

Actually, saying that is mean to rags, they serve purposes unlike this paper.