Surry County Tax Administrator Penny Harrison appeared before the board of county commissioners Monday with a bevy of items that needed their attention or approval.
County Attorney Ed Woltz, however, expressed his concern on one change regarding new names for roads that he said may run afoul of the right to free speech.
Harrison informed the board they are authorized to officially approve the naming of all roads whether they be public or private. For the board’s consideration Monday were all the road names for new roads completed between June 1 through May 31 of this year.
“This list consists of all new private roads, private road name changes, and corrections to private road names. This list has been posted in the Tax Administration office as required be ordinance,” Harrison reported.
At Monday’s meeting, a public hearing was held on the road name change proposals but there were no participants. This has been an ongoing concern of the board of commissioners that meetings where public input is invited draw no speakers only then to have folks come forward after the fact and say they were unaware the changes were being proposed at all.
To combat that, Harrison proposed a change by with three quarters of residents living along a road with a proposed name change would have to approve of the change; that is up from the current language which dictates two-thirds approval.
The board approved the list of 22 road name changes that included 17 new road names and the renaming of five others. Harrison also presented other rule changes to the road addressing ordinance including the addition of the Assistant County Manager, Sandy Snow, to the committee which oversees addresses and changes. They also approved a set of sign standards that will include for private roads the designation “PVT” on the road sign itself.
However, it was not a straightforward approval of all Harrison’s requests. The board balked at a few of her items including policies on desirable road names and undesirable road names, and the policy of notification for the change of a business address.
On the latter, Commissioner Larry Johnson said he wanted a way to notify those business owners other than a first class mail and suggested certified mail may be a better option.
Harrison’s proposal on desirable road names was that road names would “relate to history, location, or scale of an area, together with names that are pleasant sounding, appropriate, easy to read and add pride to home ownership.” Conversely, those undesirable names are ones that are “overly lengthy or complex” or where someone may try to slip a bit of naughty language into the road name.
Woltz said that was a sticking point as the determination of what is desirable or undesirable is subjective, even if standards are set, and therefore could be unconstitutional. He encouraged the board to remove those items from consideration until such time as the matter could be reviewed and amended if needed and they concurred.
County Manager Chris Knopf said that the changes would need a public hearing before they were voted on and said that would be coming in July; all Harrison’s items were tabled.
In other board news,
- While his time on the board may be nearing an end, Commissioner Larry Johnson has made his presence felt in recent weeks as he has been in budget hawk mode regarding spending. Two meetings ago, a request was sent to the board from Mount Airy City Schools to reallocate funds from a fencing project at Jones Intermediate to another project. At Jones, the project came in under budget and the school system had asked permission to use the extra money for another project.
Johnson was not so keen on giving the school system carte blanche to spend the remaining money in any way they saw fit, even if they had designated it for another fencing project. He asked the request to be tabled in May and the issue was brought back to the board Monday when MACS Superintendent Dr. Phillip Brown brought the information requested.
The area in question is behind the football field where an access road runs from Hay Street to the businesses the abut Lovills Creek.
“It is one of the final areas on the campus that is an access point for public entry. The installation of fencing on our campus would create a physical barrier that deters unauthorized access,” Brown explained.
“This would be a good way to secure that,” Vice Chair Mark Marion noted before Johnson made a motion to approve the reallocation which passed without objection.
- Surry County Parks and Recreation Director Daniel White had a trio of items before the board on Monday. He was given authorization to purchase two thirty-six by six foot bridges for the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. He said the pair of bridges would be used on the Weyerhaeuser property and cost $31,654. Also, he was given approval to purchase a post driver, costing $8,803, as a fence belonging to the company needs to be moved which was part of the agreement between the county and Weyerhaeuser.
Furthermore, White sent an agreement for the board to approve between the county and Piedmont & Atlantic Railroad Company, Inc., also known as Yadkin Valley Railroad, to construct a covered pedestrian facility under the railroad trestle at Burch River Station. White said the county would be responsible for $1,000 in rent per year which would include the driveway to access the area which is part of the railroad’s right-of-way.
- Finally, Sheriff Steve C. Hiatt requested to have the badge of Deputy Delinda Kyle retired and present her with her service weapon. Deputy Kyle served for many years as the School Resource Officer at North Surry High School; her last day on the job was May 31.
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