Bland County supervisors elect Johnson as chair, approve budgets, grants and appointments

The Bland County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 28 elected Randy Johnson as chair for 2025 and Patrick Groseclose as vice-chair and approved a slate of routine financial and administrative measures at a meeting held at the Bland County Courthouse.

Supervisor Keith Costello nominated Randy Johnson for board chair; Supervisor Patrick Groseclose seconded. The roll call vote was Costello — yea; Groseclose — yea; Stephen Kelley — yea; Randy Johnson — abstained. With three yeas and one abstention, the motion carried and Johnson was elected chair.

Chair Johnson opened nominations for vice-chair. Supervisor Stephen Kelley nominated Patrick Groseclose, seconded by Keith Costello. The roll call vote was Kelley — yea; Costello — yea; Groseclose — abstained; Johnson — yea. The motion carried and Groseclose was elected vice-chair.

The board unanimously approved the meeting agenda and a consent agenda that included minutes of the Dec. 17, 2024 regular meeting; payroll issued Dec. 31, 2024 ($141,101.95) and Jan. 16, 2025 ($179,987.12); and routine departmental reports from the treasurer, sheriff's office, animal control, building official, clerk's office, zoning, youth sports and E-911.

During the meeting the board appropriated the November 2024 Social Services local allotment of $15,333.89 and approved the Bland County School Board's February 2025 requisition of $1,141,146.10 (the motion included approval of the school board minutes and December 2024 payroll and vendor payments). Both measures passed by unanimous roll call.

On administrative items the board adopted its 2025 Rules of Procedure, updated bank account resolutions (amended to add the Chair's and Vice-Chair's signatures), and reaffirmed the county administrator and deputy county administrator as authorized agents; each was approved unanimously. The board also adopted the FY2026 budget calendar and the county's 2025 holiday calendar by unanimous votes.

The board set the employee mileage reimbursement rate at $0.70 per mile effective Jan. 1, 2025 to match the IRS rate change.

Grant and award appropriations approved included $14,688.70 from a Forest Sustainability Award and $2,000 from an American Library Association Community Connect Grant for the Bland County Public Library. The board also voted to waive certain permit fees for county projects (Permit #1-2025 for $30.60), adopted the Bland County Hazard Mitigation Plan resolution, and approved renewal of a Letter of Credit with New Peoples Bank; each passed on unanimous roll call votes.

The supervisors unanimously approved multiple appointments to local and regional boards and commissions. Appointments noted in the meeting record included Sharon Puckett and Supervisor Keith Costello to the Bland County Public Library Board of Trustees; Cameron Burton to the Bristol Transportation District Regional Improvement Commission; Randy Johnson and Patrick Groseclose to the School Facilities Committee; and several other regional and local authority appointments.

There were no public speakers during the public comment period. A motion to adjourn was made and carried, and Chair Randy Johnson closed the meeting.

Meeting materials: payroll and requisition amounts, appropriation figures and a list of appointments were recorded in the meeting minutes.