Government Briefs

Buena Vista

Much like everything else during the pandemic, school drug searches using canine units were suspended.

At its Feb. 1 meeting, the Buena Vista School Board approved of a revision in the district’s memorandum of understanding with the Buena Vista Sheriff’s Office to reinstate these searches.

As school resource officers are hired through the sheriff’s office, the MOU defines the terms of the alliance between the school and the sheriff’s office. The language allowing canine drug searches has always been present in the MOU, but since its Covid recess, it’s been slightly revised. These searches will be unannounced to the students at Parry McCluer Middle School and Parry McCluer High School.

Francis Reviews Goals For Year

With about four months remaining in the current school year, Superintendent Tony Francis took time at the Feb. 1 School Board meeting to review his 20222023 goals as superintendent.

Francis hopes to reevaluate and raise salaries of qualified and classified employees with a 5 percent increase as the minimum baseline. He hopes that this will compete with the wages of other local divisions, as well as help BVCPS recruit and retain staff.

Before the start of the 2022-23 academic year, the school system earned full state accreditation. While Francis noted some shortcomings throughout the district in reading and writing, he feels confident that teachers and students are working diligently to offset these weaknesses and earn state accreditation once again.

In recent years, mental and emotional health has become increasingly important for local districts. In Buena Vista City Public Schools, Francis hopes to implement a social-emotional program by January 2024. Francis has already applied to several grants to fund a program that will cater to student needs.

Francis’s final goal for the 2022-2023 year is to begin collaborating with the School Board, Buena Vista City Council, and the city Planning Commission to develop a school construction plan that “will meet the needs of Buena Vista city.” This process is set to begin in 2023 and conclude in 2026. Regardless of whether construction means simply working on building additions or an entirely new school, the project will take serious funding assistance from the state.

In June, after the school year has ended, Francis will review and amend his goals for the 2023-2024 year.

Duplex Approval Sought From Council

Buena Vista City Council is considering a request by Leon Barker for a conditional use permit to allow a duplex at 217 W. 28th St. Barker told Council at its Feb. 2 meeting that he had made the necessary renovations to convert the structure from a one-family to a two-family dwelling.

The house, which is in an R-3 residential district, has a combined total of 2,481 square feet of floor space on two floors. Tom Roberts, the city’s director of community development, said the house meets the city’s criteria for two-family dwellings.

Todd Royer, whose parents live next door to the house, objected to the plans, citing concerns about traffic and safety associated with allowing up to four unrelated people in each of the dwellings, which would likely be rented to students. Accommodating parking for this many individuals would be problematic, he said.

Council held a first reading for an ordinance to grant the special exception permit. A second reading and vote will be held tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 16.

Proposed Conveyance Of City Lots Rejected

A proposal to convey two lots from the city of Buena Vista to Southern Virginia University was rejected by City Council on Feb. 2.

In what was thought to be a housecleaning measure regarding deeds associated with undevelopable land, city staff recently proposed conveying three lots to SVU. One of the lots was for several hundred square feet of land within a parking lot for the Lofts dormitories. Another comprised about 2,000 square feet of land off of Dinky Trail, between Birch and Maple avenues, near 26th Street.

A third lot was near a bend in Ridge Avenue close to Maple Avenue. Because there were questions associated with the deed for this lot, it was eliminated from consideration for the conveyance prior to Council’s Feb. 2 meeting.

At that meeting, Vice Mayor Cheryl Henson said she objected to the conveyance because “I just don’t want to give away property.” Tyson Cooper responded that the property is worthless and that the city approached SVU about the conveyance to clean up the deeds. “Maybe somebody in the city would want to buy it,” remarked Stanley Coffey.

Melvin Henson made a motion to convey the two lots to SVU, but the motion died for a lack of a second.