Lagging Technology Hamstrings County Managers

Monday’s Joint Administrative Services meeting agenda held a seemingly innocuous footnote under the heading “Summer Projects.” The item was titled “Extend Financial System Access.” As surprising as it may seem in the year 2010, many Clarke County department heads do not have real-time access to budget and financial information necessary to make decisions about resource [...]

Sparks Fly Over School Board Fire Flow Discussion

Last night Clarke County School Board chairperson, Robina Bouffault touched off a fire-storm over fire flow. Bouffault’s fire flow proposal, intended to open procurement consideration for a less expensive, off-the-shelf fire flow alternative to the custom designed system being requested by the Town of Berryville, was dead-on-arrival.
At issue is the continuing disagreement between Bouffault and [...]

Virginia Sewage Funding Flows into Berryville

“I hope that people realize just how close the new waste water treatment plant was from not happening,” Ward Three Council Member, Mary Daniel said at Wednesday morning’s Berryville Town Council meeting. “If that had happened it would have been very bad for our citizens and for the Shenandoah River.”
The Berryville Town Council unanimously approved [...]

Town Council Approves $11.75 Million Bond, Sewer Rates Will Climb to $17.00

On Thursday March 25th the Berryville Town council held a late afternoon special session to consider the bond resolution to borrow $11.75 million to secure the final funds necessary to begin construction of the new municipal sewage treatment plant. This step in the project represents the line of demarcation between planning and actual construction. Once [...]

Governor McDonnell Signs Virginia Healthcare Freedom Act Legislation

Governor Bob McDonnell signed the Virginia Healthcare Freedom Act in a mid-afternoon ceremony today in Richmond. He was joined at the bill signing by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, Senators Steve Martin, Fred Quayle, and Jill Vogel and Delegate Bob Marshall. Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources Dr. Bill Hazel also participated in the [...]

Virginia Attorney General Files Suit Against Federal Government

As expected, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has filed suit in  the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against the Federal Government contesting the Constitutionality of the Health Care Reform Bill.
“The Office of the Attorney General of Virginia will move forward with our lawsuit against the federal government [...]

Census Forms Are Out – Beware of Scams

By now the majority of us have received our census forms in the mail. Every ten years our nation expends a tremendous effort to attempt to enumerate the citizens of our country. To many this represents a civic duty in order to facilitate the allocation of representatives in government, but to other it is simply [...]

Virginia Governor Blasts Federal Healthcare Bill

Governor Bob McDonnell waded into the fray regarding the  federal health care bill passed by the United States House of Representatives and, not surprisingly, he is not pleased.
“Expanding access to reasonably priced quality healthcare is a bipartisan goal. We all agree that we must make it easier for Americans to purchase and retain health insurance.
However, [...]

Health Reform Passes, but Virginia Prepares to Fight

After a year of contentious debate and partisan wrangling, House Democrats have their coveted prize which now goes to President Obama’s desk to be signed into law.
In late night drama, House Minority Leader, John Boehner, argued that Democrats were pushing ahead a bill that the public does not want, “We have failed to listen to [...]

Virginia House and Senate Approve Budget Late Sunday

Late Sunday afternoon the General Assembly passed a new two-year budget that includes unprecedented cuts to state services and programs. After weeks of negotiations, the two houses were able to find areas of compromise and produce the final document.
The House voted 73-23 to approve the $84 billion funding plan, while the Senate passed it 34-6 [...]

Next Page »