Lunenburg supervisors approve broadband contract, ARPA tower funding and routine warrants
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Summary
At its Feb. 10 meeting the Lunenburg County Board of Supervisors accepted a Kinex Telecom broadband proposal, earmarked ARPA funds to build two radio towers for the county radio system, approved routine payroll/warrants and made a board appointment; several funding requests will be reviewed further.
The Lunenburg County Board of Supervisors on Feb. 10 voted unanimously to accept a broadband proposal from Kinex Telecom, approve using federal ARPA funds to build two radio towers for the county radio communications system, and to adopt routine payroll and warrant approvals totaling $1,065,784.06.
The board accepted Kinex Telecom’s response to a county RFP and authorized County Administrator Tracy M. Gee and County Attorney Frank Rennie to review and sign the contract on behalf of Lunenburg and two other localities. Administrator Gee told the board Kinex committed to completing 75% of the broadband project within four years and that $800,000 in ARPA funds had been earmarked for the effort.
On the county radio communications Project LUIS, Rodney Newton updated the board that vendor proposals and tower load studies produced higher-than-anticipated monthly lease fees ($2,000–$4,000) at several candidate sites. Newton said one existing tower at the Lunenburg Correctional Facility carries no county cost, while the Gary Road tower could not support the planned load. The board voted to use federal ARPA funds to construct two towers—one on land offered by Victoria Fire and Rescue’s Station 7 and one at the Gary Road site—pending discussions with Southside Electric Cooperative.
The board approved the consent agenda, which included payroll direct deposits, payroll taxes, retirement payments and accounts payable warrants for January, by roll-call vote with all seven supervisors voting yes.
Other actions: the board accepted a $4,953.46 refund from the Commonwealth Regional Council and placed it into the county Economic Development fund; it authorized the Clerk of Circuit Court to accept $6,000 from the clerk’s local funds to cover temporary staffing costs for January and allocated $4,000 to full-time salary/fringe and $2,000 to part-time salary/wages and FICA. The board also appointed Jamyce Watson to the Department of Social Services Advisory Board for District 5 to fill an unexpired term through Dec. 31, 2022.
The session included a closed session under Virginia Code §2.2-3711(A)(7) to consult legal counsel; the board certified the closed session upon return to open meeting and then adjourned.
The board left several funding requests and studies for further review, including a regional homeless housing proposal asking for ARPA contributions from each county and staff work on alternatives to the county’s health-insurance renewal.