Surry County commissioners approve consent agenda, authorize tax-lien advertisements and enter closed session

The Surry County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 3 approved a series of routine and administrative items, including the consent agenda, and authorized the tax administrator to advertise unpaid property taxes, county officials said.

The board approved the January 2025 meeting minutes and then approved a consent agenda that county manager Chris Knauth said contained six items: two new nonexclusive waste-hauler franchise applications (Pilot Mountain Waste Solutions and K & A Garbage Services) that will require back-to-back approval if both pass; an amendment to the 2025 board meeting calendar (moving the first April meeting to Elkin High School); an Invest in Surry discretionary grant award to the Copeland Youth Foundation; an additional eight hours of petty leave granted to employees (raising the allocation for recent inclement-weather closings); a lease renewal for 303 North White Street in Dobson for sheriff's office use; and budget amendment number 8, addressing grant revenue and health funds rolled forward.

All items on the consent agenda passed by voice vote with no recorded opposition.

Penelope "Penny" Harrison, the county's tax administrator, told the board that the deadline for taxpayers to pay without being advertised is the end of February; the board authorized advertising unpaid 2024—25 property taxes in March. Harrison said delinquent personal property typically totals roughly $239,000 at this point in the year. The motion to authorize advertising passed with no recorded opposition.

The board also approved a request by county manager Chris Knauth to go into closed session to discuss legal and personnel matters; the motion passed and the meeting later adjourned.

Most routine approvals were handled by single voice votes; no recorded roll-call tallies were provided during the meeting for these items.