Nottoway supervisors agree to fund Virginia Rules day camp; school system already pledged support

Sergeant Sawyer, the school resource officer supervisor with the Nottoway County Sheriff’s Office, asked the Board of Supervisors on May 8 to provide $3,600 per year to help run a Virginia Rules summer day camp for elementary through high school students.

The camp, run in partnership with the Attorney General’s office program Virginia Rules, is designed as a multi‑day, age‑appropriate, interactive program covering bullying, cyberbullying, harassment, gangs, drugs, alcohol, vaping and other topics the presenter said were identified in a parent survey. Sergeant Sawyer told the board the program would be free to parents and include training, venue rental, food and lifeguards.

Board members asked whether the camp would be overnight (it would not) and whether the $3,600 request was an annual ask (the speaker said the sheriff plans to request the line in his budget going forward). Sergeant Sawyer said he has applied for the Attorney General’s Virginia Rules grant, which this year was reduced to $2,500, and described a proposed local budget showing a request for $3,600 to cover the remainder.

Supervisors discussed using remaining discretionary funds in the current fiscal year to cover the request because the camp starts in June and the sheriff’s office had not budgeted the item in FY‑25. A motion was asked for and a supervisor said, “To approve $3,600.” The transcript does not show a recorded roll‑call vote; board members afterward indicated they would arrange the funding and county staff said the sheriff’s budget would carry the line item when appropriate.

The request dovetails with support the presenter said the school system has already given. Sergeant Sawyer described the venue as the Mullen Stark Camp and Retreat Center and told the board the camp had invited roughly 80 students in a prior year with 45 attending.

For implementation, presenters asked the board to direct payment to the sheriff’s office (to be reflected as a county payment to the sheriff’s budget) and noted the Attorney General grant, if received, would reduce the local contribution. Board members said the sheriff would attempt to include the line in his future operating budgets, and for the current year they expected to use available discretionary funds to cover the request.

The board did not adopt a separate ordinance or budget amendment on the record during the meeting; county staff indicated they would process the payment and incorporate the expense in the sheriff’s budget and future budget discussions.