Friends and neighbors,
Our Monday, Dec. 14, 2020 meeting will be held in the Peter Francisco Board Room in the County Administration Complex on U.S. Route 60. I hope you will consider attending in person (though there are restrictions on the number of people who can attend due to COVID-19), via phone, or via YouTube. Here is a link to the full Board Meeting Packet: https://buckinghamcountyva.org/Board%20Packets/2020/dec%2014%202020%20bos%20pckt.pdf.
You can click here to watch our meeting live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu37DIHfh3s, you can email publiccomments@buckinghamcounty.virginia.gov to submit public comment, or call 434-969-5039 to offer verbal, recorded public comment.
As always, I would love to hear from you on any issue. You can call or text me at 434-390-7023, email me at jmiles@buckinghamcounty.virginia.gov, or stop by and visit me at 13170 W. James Anderson Highway (my house is beside Herbert Maxey’s law office on Route 60).
Checking In With You
I hope your Thanksgiving was great, and your Christmas season will be even brighter! I pray you and your family are staying staying safe as we enter the days of winter, amid COVID-19. Over the past few months, we have seen several members of our community pass or become ill, not only with COVID-19, but other illnesses and ailments. We have lost some great people in our community, and families have lost loved ones recently due to various illnesses. Please pray for them and our community, especially the residents and staff at Heritage Hall in Dillwyn, which is being hit hard by COVID-19. Pray for strength for the employees and for those infected with the virus. If you’d like to help support the staff and residents there, Kim Saunders Page has set up this Amazon Wish List that you can purchase items to have directly shipped to her for Heritage Hall: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3VK2YO1844Z4O?ref_=wl_share&fbclid=IwAR02phJckwJ9bjOkp4shkybvDiBsMKnHlrZEw3Ye_aXbreOhHrIfuUWp40I.
Core Sampling and Potential Gold Mine
As you know, the Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission have been discussing commercial core sampling/prospecting with regards to the previous commercial core sampling conducted by Aston Bay near Warminster Church Road, along with the potential for a mining operation for gold by Aston Bay. We will be considering a potential meeting with the Planning Commission to add “commercial prospecting” as a special use in the A-1 and M-1 districts, and making it by right in M-2; defining “commercial prospecting;” and adding that definition to the Zoning Ordinance; and leaving mining in A-1 as a special use permitted use in A-1 and M-1. See specifics below. I would like to hear your opinion on this proposal.
Update on CVEC/FireFly Broadband Expansion
Fiber Build in Buckingham from Central Virginia Electric as of Dec. 2, 2020:
Pamplin: Currently installing service, 188 active accounts as of last week. 268 customers have registered for service- this is about a 52% take rate out of this substation.
Curdsville: Splicing and service drops are being finalized. 347 customers have registered for service. In-home connections are scheduled to begin soon.
Tower Hill and Mt. Rush: Sites for fiber huts at both substations are being designed and survey/permitting work is being completed. Make ready work on over-head lines is complete. Connections expected in 2021.
Centenary and Schuyler: Fiber design and make ready engineering are complete. The next steps will be the make ready contractors working to change poles and equipment on poles where necessary to prepare them for fiber. Connections expected in 2022.
Buckingham County has approximately 8,200 homes and businesses. Almost 4,600 are served by Central Virginia Electric Cooperative and will have internet options from their system wide fiber build which will be completed by 2023. In addition, Firefly has applied for a ReConnect grant for some non-CVEC territory which will cover almost 300 additional homes and businesses. With 783 being passed with this project and if the ReConnect grant is awarded this fall, Firefly will have fiber optic service passing almost 5,800, or 71% of the county homes and businesses. There are a few areas with CenturyLink DSL that exceeds 25/3, and another local fiber based internet company provides service to the school system and a small portion of the residences and businesses; with these two providers plus Firefly, more than 80% of all county buildings will have access to broadband after this project.
Utility and Rent and Mortgage Relief
If you are a customer with Dominion Energy, and are having trouble paying your bills, click here for an opportunity for assistance. Also, if you are having difficultly paying your rent or mortgage, click here for information from STEPS Inc. and the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. Please pass this along to anyone who may need this assistance.
VDOT Six Year Road Improvement Plan
Over the next six years, VDOT has forecasted a total of $3.6 million dollars into our construction program regarding our Six Year Road Improvement Program. In the Maysville District, roads included in the plan are Hunters Road and Red Road. Because Red Road connects two major U.S. Highways, and the existing homes and new homes on this road, I am pushing this entire road road to be fully surface treated as soon as possible. Half of the road was hard surfaced in the last year and a half while the other half needs to be completed. The whole road should have been completed when the first half was.
Appointment to the Virginia Tobacco Commission
I’m honored and humbled to serve and represent rural Virginia — which has always been my home — on the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission.
This position will allow me to not only support the good work the Tobacco Commission is already doing, but also ensure its new investments meet rigorous economic development priorities in rural Virginia, including my beloved home of Buckingham County.
Growing up in my dad’s general merchandise store in Glenmore and being raised on a farm taught me a lot about life. It taught me that hard work, respect, seeking common ground, and listening are of the utmost importance.
Rural Virginia has so much to offer all of Virginia, yet we have unique challenges compared to other parts of the Commonwealth, such as Northern Virginia. I look forward to working with my fellow commissioners to address the lack of affordable and accessible high-speed internet in Southside Virginia. My other priorities include supporting skill building in the trades through our educational institutions, and increasing healthcare options in our region. I also look forward to enhancing economic development by marketing our region to potential employers and new businesses.
Contact Me
As always, I would love to hear from you on any issue. You can call or text me at 434-390-7023, email me at jmiles@buckinghamcounty.virginia.gov, or stop by and visit me at 13170 W. James Anderson Highway (my house is beside Herbert Maxey’s law office on Route 60).
Best,
Jordan
Thomas Jordan Miles III
District Four Supervisor (Maysville)
jmiles@buckinghamcounty.virginia.gov
434-390-7023
13170 West James Anderson Highway
PO Box 188
Buckingham, Virginia 23921
Maysville District Supervisor Thomas Jordan Miles III 