Haywood woman: Officials show disregard

Editor:

Last [month], Madison County Board of Supervisors Chairman Eddie Dean forwarded an e-mail to me from our county administrator stating that under Virginia law “no public hearing is required” on the Craftsman Group’s offer to buy the old Criglersville school property.

For the record, I never said that the BOS is legally required to hold a public hearing. I simply believe it is sensible and in the public interest to do so — especially given the cost to taxpayers of maintaining the vacant Criglersville property and the fact that we have received an offer from a responsible business for this publicly-owned property. In other words, while the BOS is not required to have a public hearing, nothing in the law stops them from having one.

Mr. Dean’s e-mail raises several questions worth asking.

First, even though the BOS was not “required” to have a public hearing about the $100,000 offer several years ago, they did. Why? If a public hearing was worth having then, why isn’t one worth holding now — especially since the current $167,000 offer is substantially better than the earlier $100,000 offer??
Second, why not hear what the public has to say? Doesn’t our BOS care? Does the BOS have some secret method of measuring what the public thinks about this new offer? If so, maybe they will tell us how they measure public opinion.

And, third, if our BOS is so sure about turning down the only offer the county has received in years, maybe they will share with us exactly what their (presumably better) plan is for the deteriorating Criglersville property. My guess is that their plan will cost us all money — if there is a plan at all.

Sadly, what I see so far is a common disregard that government (at all levels) has toward the very public it is supposed to serve. Come November, it would be nice to imagine that the three new members of the BOS we elect will actually want to hear from the public about the Criglersville property and a variety of other important matters which affect our county and the taxes we all pay. In other words, to act like the representatives of the public they are supposed to be.

Jeanna Beker
Haywood