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11-25-1941 Minutes VIRGIN IA: At an adjourned meeting of t,e Board of Supervisors of Chesterfield County, held at the Courthouse on November 25, 1941, at 8:00 o'clock P.M. I Present: H. L. Chalkley, Chairman Hl. T. Goyne J. G. Hening Ii.A. Horner Absent: T. D. Watkins P. W. Covington There appeared before the Board Mr. H. E. Lovering, who was the owner of the dog that bit the son of Ur.J.C.Jure, who appeared before this Board at a former meeting and requested the payment of the doctor's bill for treating his son for this bite. Mr. Lovering requested information as to whether it was possible for Mr. Jerue to sue for further damages after the doctor's bill was paid, but sin e ~e Board had no responsibility beyond that which it had already assumed, Mr. Lovering's request was not considered. i There appeared before the Board Messrs. r~unford and Q,uilm, rep resenting Q.uinnford j Homes, Inc., which Corporation is building on the development known as "Bellwood Manor" in Bermuda District. These .gentlemen stated th,it under the agreement with F.R.A. it was necessary that they hu~e a public water supply for this development. And further stated that they had a numher of propositions froI!1 private corporation tp supply the water but felt tha.t the interest of the future purchasers would be I better ~dled tf the County supplied water for the project. Tuey stated there v:ould be from eighty to one l:undred homes built in this project and reque~ted that the Board make further investigation and assist them if possible. Upon consideration whereof and on motion of H. T. Goyne, it is resolved that the entire Board be and it hereby is appointed as a Comoittee to investigate this proposition and meet on the premises Thursday, November 27, 1941 at 2:00 o'cloCk P.M. -. This day came Mr. Haskins Hobson, who hcd been employed as Special Attorney to assist the Commonwealth t s Attorney in the case of annexation by the City of Richmo!ill, who made his report as follows, to-wit: "Counsel for the County of Chesterfield respectfully reports to your Honorable Board the resuJi'. s of' the recent annexati.on proceedings instituted by the City of Richnond against the County of Chesterfield, as shown by the order of the Court entered on the 6th day of November, 1941. 1. Terr i tory ~nnexed: Under the agreement between counsel for the County and tl:e City oade pursuant to the approval and direction of a najority of the members of your Honorable Board, the corporate lines of the City of Richmond were extended so as to include the fcllowine territory: Beginning at the point of intersection of the present corpoI ation line on the southern shore of the James River with the eastern right- of-way of theAtlantic Coast Line Railroad, thence proceeding southwardly alonf the eastern richt-of-way line of said railroad to its intersection with the old Belt Line ~f said railroad, thence along the eastern or southeastern line of said old Belt Line Railroad to its intersection with the easter!" line of the old Main Line of said railroad at Clopton, thence southwardly along the oldMain line of said Railroad to a point two hundred (200) feet south of the southernline of tre \iarwick Road, thence along a line parallel to and two hundred (200) feet south of the southern line of the,jarwick Road to the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike, thence to the intersection of the eastern line of said turnpike with the northern line of the Dupont Company property, and thence soutll~astwardly along the norhtern line of the DuPont Company property to the western shore of James River, thence northwardly along the western shore of James River to the present coporation line, and thence along the present corporation line to the point of beginning. The majority of the members of your Honorable Boaru and counsel for the County have recognized the futility of undertaking to make any contest f r the retention of that part of said territory known as Westover Hills, Forest Hill Terrace, Bellmeade Sanitary District, a part of Manchester Sanitary Distri~t and the territory embraced within the horse-shoe bounded in a general way by Ricrunond-Petersburg Turnpike, Maury Street and Perdue Avenue, since the decision of the Court in the Henrico case affirmed by an elaborate opinion of the Supreme Court of Appeals, showing that such context would be attended with enormous expenses and in the end utterly vain With respect to the remaining part of Manchester Sanitary District and certain of the lands adjacent thereto, it was recognized that along the Richmond and Petersburg Turnpike, from the corporate limits down to theDuPont line, there has already devoloped conditions immediately demanding the installation of either an adequate water or sewer system, and in some sections both; that even if Manchester Sanitary District in its entirety should be left in the County, the taxation on the property within the district suffioient to raise the amount of money neoessary for the installation of these services would be prohibitive and cOnfiscatory; thet the installation of these services would be attended with circumstances of grea~ difficulty in securing a proper water supply and involved difficult engineering problems; and that these servtces oould be supplied to this territory by the City more effioiently and at much less expense. As a matter of fact if any p art of this sanitary district should have been taken in, it VJould then have been impossible for the County to supply these services to the remaining part of the district at all. It was therefore considered by the members of the Board above referred to, and by the Counsel for the County, that the corporate limits should be extended down the Turnpike to the extent set out in the order. It may 1e further added that up to the present time no person residing in either Bellmeade Sanitary District or Manchester Sanitary Distriot has appeared before your counsel to protest or oppose the taking tfi of these districts. 2. Bellmeade Sanitary District and Wanchester Sanitary District: The improvement undertaken by the County for these districts and in process of installation have been paid for entirely from the prooeeds of bond issues by the respective districts, which bond issues nere to be repaid by taxation on the property in the districts. These bond issues were for the principal sum of $50~000.00 in Bellmeade Sanitary District and $79,000.00 in 1!anchester San! ary uistrict. Under the terms of the order, the Oity is required to as~ume the payment in full of these bond issues. In view of this assumption it was further ordered that all of the properties, equipment and mat..erials on hand purchased from the 'proceeds of these bonds, as well as any unexpended balances of such proceeds in hand on December 31, 1941, should become the property of theCity. It was likewise ordered that any funds to the credit of these respective districts derived from taxation or water rents be likewise paid o,er to the City. It was further orderbd that the City shall be responsible for any unfilled prders for material, equipment or supplies placed by the County for the accou~t of such districts prior to the entry of the order, and should also assume the obligation of the County and Sani tary District under the agreement made by this Board and Garland S. Sydnor, dated September 8, 1937, relating to a water supply from a well oV'Jned by said Sydnor in Bellmeade Sanitary District. The City will also be entitled to any funds to the credit of ~kstover Hills Garbage Collection and Disposal ~rea as of Decem~er 31, 1941. 3. School Houses: Under the annexation law the City is required to pay to the County the then valuation of any sch001 houses taken in, such payment, however, to be vredited with the amount of any outstanding bonds issued for the construction of said school houses and constituting a lien thereon. All Literary Fund loan bonds are by law made a specific lien 0 n the school buildings constructed with their proceeds. In this proceeding the territory annexed included two school buildings kno\m as the Bellmeade and Summer Hill Schools, the Bellmeade School having a Literary Fund loan thereon amounting, as of December 31, 1941 to $27,375.00. and the Summer Hill school having a Literary Fund loan of $28,050.00. The valuation of the Bellmeade School, including buildings, land and school furniture and equipment, was placed bt $60,316.00. Deducting the Literary Fund loan of ~27;375.00 required to be assumed by the City, leaves I a balance of j32,941.00net which the City will pay to the County for this school. ! The summer Hill :;)uhool, inc luding buildings land furniture and I equipment, was Kalued at ~?0,480.00. ~educting the Literary Fund loan of i $28,050.00 leaveB a balance of $42,430.00 net, which theCity will pay to the Coun~ for this school. For both schools the City will pay to the County therefor I the total sum of $75,371.00. I It further appearing that there will be a cash balance in the fund known as the Manchester D1strict School Fund, as of December 31, 1941, in the I sum of $5,819.~0, the Court declared that theCity should be entitled to its 'I proper share of this fund on account of said Literary Fund loans assumed by it. , Such share amounted to the sum of $4,763.95. This sum will be a credit on ,. the sum of $75,371.00 mentioned above. I I I Under the annexation law the City is required to assume a just i proportion of such County or district indebtedness as may be affected by the I annexation of territory. In arriving at this just proportion, the ratio has heretofore been invariably arrived at by requiring the City to assume that i pDDportion of the bonds which the taxable values taken in bore to the total i taxable values of ,the County or district as the case may be. In this proceedi~' however, about 40~ of the total taxable values of the County and about 60% of the total taxable values of the Di stricts, lConsisted of maChinery on which the County rate for taxation is ten cents on the hundred dollars, whi+e the County II rate on all other classes of property is $1.31 on one hundred dollars. Only about one-sixteenth of this machinery was included in the property taken in. I I , I I 4. Proportion of Bond Is,'ues Assumed by the City: The City contended that the rule above mentioned had been the one invariably heretofore adopted, and that it was within the power of the Board to increase the rating on machinery and that this rule should therefore be adhered to in arriving at the ratio of bonds to be assumed by the City. Counsel for the County. on theother hand. contended that the ratio of bonds to be assumed should be based on the proportion of revenues available and that a gentlemen's agreement made by the Board at 'the time the DuPont Company determined to locate in Chesterfield County. fixed the rate at ten cents. This agreement was still in existance. as shown by the records of the.. Board. and was binding on the Board and could not be violated except under a breach of good faith. The difference in the amount of the bonds issued under these two contention would have been about $21,000.00. The Court in its decree commended the attitude of the Board in under- taking to live up tothis agreement made with the DuPont Company, and decided to split the differenCe and give to the County one-half of the benefits for which it was contending. hOlding that it would be a hardship on the City to require it to assume the full amount. The result of this decision was to raise the percentage of bonds assumed from 15.93 to 18.78 for County bonds and from 23.07 to 32.25 for Elkhardt ~istrict bonds. The total bonds and the proportions thereof assumed by theCity covering Sanitary District Bonds, ~anchester District School Bonds and the County School Bonds are as follows: ~e11meade Sanitary District. l..1anc he s te r Sani tar y 1) i st . 100% 100% ~50,OOO.00 79.000.00 $129,000.00 Manchester District ~ch001 Summe r Hi 11 Bel1meade E~khardt -$10,000 Bonds 100/11 100% 32.25% 28,050.00 27,375.00 3.225.00 56,650.00 i $187 ,.50-rO ~37,560.00 ' 3,096.82 I 2,713.71 i 2,713.71 ~ 7,981.50 5.986.13 60.051. 7 I $247,701.87 I I I ! , Balance forv:ard ., County School ~onds: . Chester aftd Manchester Colonial Heights Hickory Hill Enon Matoaca Broa d Rock 200,000.00 - 16,490.00 - 14.450.00 - 14,450.00 - 42,500.00 - 31,875.00 - lS.78~ " " " " " 5. School Children: 6. ~ffective Uate of ~exation: The effective date of annexation is Decumber 31. lb941. The above are the main highlights of the Court's order. Counsel wishes to express to the various members of the board and to all of the County offiee~s and personnel their sincere appreciation of their whole-hearted cooperation and help.w Respectfully, November 25, 1941 (Sirnad) M. A. COGBILL Commonwealth's Attorney HASKINS HOBSON Associate Counsel _J__ ...-.--. -~-'~-'-'-"-'-._.~_____~_,"",,__T'___ -_._J_____ Upon consideration whereof and on notion of \i.A.Horner, it is resolved that the report be received and spread on the minutes of this Board. I I I I This day Mr. Haskins Hobson, associate Counsel with the Commonwealth's Attorney I in the annexation suit by the City of Richmond, presented to the Board a bill I for services rendered in the amount of $2,000.00. Upon consideration whereof I and on motion of J.G.Haning, the Executive Sefretary is instructed to pay this billfl. And be it further resolved that the amount of $2,OOO.00be and it hereby is transfer d from the Unappropriated Surplus of the General Fund to "Special attorneys }t'ees" - budgetary code 18-103. : I ! i Supervisor, H.T.Goyne, requested th~ two lights be installed in the Village of Chester, and upon consideration whereof and on motionof J.G.Haning, it is resolved that this matter be referred to the Li[ht Committee. The Special Committee appointed to investigate the reassessment of property in Chesterfield County in 1942 reported that it would be necessary tosecure aaditional help to prepare the cards for the assessors prior to January I, or as II soon thereafter as possible. Upon considerationwhereof, and on motion of H. A. Horner, it is resolved that the Commissioner of Revenue be and he hBareby is ~ instructed to employ such ~e~p as is necessary for this work, to be paid for at th rate of not more than iso.oo per month. ' I The Executive Secretary brought to the attention of the Board the fact that there I is carried in the budget an amount of. ~hOOlOO to be used by the Welfare Department I for Christmas baskets for the needy. Upon consideration whereof and on motion J.G.Hening, the Executive Secretary is instructed to pay this amount to the I Department of Welfare to be used in the purchase of Christmas baskets for this I indigent of this County. I I I The Exed'ltt ive Secretary read to the Board a let:t.er received from Mr. Carl1.H. nolti~g, Commissioner, Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, in answer to a resolution I recent~y passed by this Board. Upon consideration wrereof and on motion of H.T. . Goyne, the letter is received and filed. I , I This day the attention of the Board was cal~d to the fact that there are a number I of cittcens of Chesterfield County who live adjacent to the Ricmuond City Limits I who are in need of water supply. Upon consideration whereof and on motion of J.G.Henipg, it is resolved that the Commonv~alth's Attorney of Chesterfield County I and the Executive Secretary work with the officials of the City of Richmond i and secure the best possible rate for purchasing water for such communities. The attention of the Board being called to the fact that the ~meDemonstration Committee of Chesterfield County had placed in the Court room an Ameriean Flag, and since the Board felt that this was a very commendable action, it is resolved on motion of H. T. GOyne, that the gratitude of this Board be expressed to this Committee for their consideration inthis matter. Ordered that the meeting be now adjourned until 10:00 a.m. December 9, 1941. rm{') Exacut1~ .11/ rirlt.n~ I ! I f- i I I I I I I i I I I I _.. ___ ..1 --~ '~---'-~.'--' ,....