Middlesex Board approves $5,000 for Virginia 250 speakers, urges EDA match

The Middlesex County Board of Supervisors on Feb. 3 approved up to $5,000 to fund two speakers as part of the county's Virginia 250 programming and encouraged the county's Economic Development Authority (EDA) to match the amount.

Trent Funkhouser introduced the request; Miss White, representing the Virginia 250 committee, said the committee "have been more than busy" staging a series of events alongside museums and partner organizations and asked the board to help fund two larger speaker programs and related school assemblies. "We have been more than busy," Miss White said as she described completed walking-trail signage and planned public programs.

Staff said the county's miscellaneous income account could cover the request and noted the EDA has a 30-day waiting period for such matching requests. The motion approved up to $5,000 for speakers and included an explicit encouragement that the EDA match the county funds; the board recorded a unanimous vote in favor.

Supporters said the programs would include public presentations and school assemblies, and that partner museums and historical organizations have handled much of the preparation to date. The board asked that the request be presented to the EDA; Miss White indicated the EDA was scheduled to consider the request at an upcoming meeting and that a public exhibition marking the 250th celebration is already on display at the courthouse.