Fact & Opinion
IF A GOOD MAN IS ELECTED IN TO A POSITION OF POWER AND DOES NOTHING THEN THEY ARE NO BETTER THAN AN EVIL MAN ELECTED TO OFFICE!
The Russell County Board of Supervisors held their February Meeting this week. The key thing coming out of the meeting was some supervisors were talking about the forensic audit that was promised to the taxpayers with a large tax increase. Now some supervisors are claiming due to the needs of the children that are in custody that they need more money to cover that issue and saying the audit is too expensive when they need the other money somewhere else.
One thing that bothers me as a taxpayer is all the money they have been throwing around for charity needs, turkeys, dinners, and trips to Richmond expenses and now they do not have the money. The audit was promised to the taxpayers. We will see if they go through with the audit. In my opinion the audit will do no good as long as County Administrator Lonzo Lester is anywhere near the audit.
The proposal for the forensic audit was discussed and Lonzo stated that we can take the part about the Dante Fire Department and the PSA out of the Audit. Lonzo stated that since there was a court case no need to look at that issue. The claim that the corporation for the department proved to have ended years ago means they can leave that out of the audit. So, he is saying no transparency on what went down with the department and the purchase by Dollar General of the property. According to him, there is nothing to see here. Well, I as a taxpayer want to see the full picture of everything about the Dante Fire Department. County funds went to the department. Money exchanged hands for the property sold. In a transparent government they would want us to see everything.
Then Lonzo stating that we can save money by dropping the forensic audit part about the PSA. He said the records had been turned over to the Virginia State Police. That does nothing to let the taxpayer see what is going on. Lonzo stated all the money had been accounted for, so there was no reason to have the audit. The purpose of the audit was so the public could know what was going on. As long as Lonzo is running the show there is one thing they are right about and that is no need to pay for audit if they are going to hide paperwork from the public.
The house that burned down in Dante, could it have been different if Dante had a fire department? There still has been no public vote to shut down that department. Will there be a home owner lawsuit against the supervisors be coming in the future? In searching AI a local volunteer fire department in Virginia does not have to be incorporated to operate. The board never cared about the incorporation or the department would have been closed years ago. They continued to give money to department. The only time the incorporation mattered was when the board got sued. No one even thought about closing the Dante Fire Department until Dollar General wanted the property. The supervisors can get mad at me if you want but this deal is one of the dirties things I have seen from a board in Southwest Virginia.
I want to call out Chairman David Eaton. Even though we have disagreements, David is willing to talk and discuss the issues with you. He does not just stop talking or answering questions. Some of these conservative supervisors seem to be all for Charlie Kirk but at the first sign of criticism they shutdown and will not talk to you. Some of these supervisors I have called out and told them they were doing a great job, but when you criticize them one time then you are their enemy and they do not want to discuss anything with you. That is not how an elected person should represent the public.
IS ANYTHING EVER GOING TO CHANGE IN RUSSELL COUNTY? As the bills go up no cutting just tax increases.
