Outgoing Goode requested stimulus money for Appomattox water line

A letter sent last month by outgoing Rep. Virgil Goode, R-5th District, asked members of Congress to consider federal economic stimulus money for the proposed Appomattox water line.

In Goode’s brief letter to the chairman and ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, he wrote that while he didn’t know what the proposed stimulus package would include, he hoped members “would show every consideration to the Appomattox Water Line Project.” He included a copy of a two-page letter written by Appomattox County planner Johnnie Roark.

The letter, dated Dec. 19, was one of the last official moves Goode made as a congressman. It was dated two days after Hurt & Proffitt Inc. president Earl Dickerson urged the Appomattox County Board of Supervisors to contact Goode about the stimulus money for infrastructure projects.

In his letter, Roark wrote that the Board of Supervisors “formally committed” to the project in December 2006, but an agreement between the town and county had not been reached.

However, he added, “as we stand today, the Board of Supervisors is prepared to move ahead with ‘shovels in the ground’ so as not to waste any more valuable time or miss any business opportunities that may come our way in this stressful economic era.”

The project would extend a 7.5-mile water line along U.S. 460 eastward, from Concord in Campbell County to the town of Appomattox. Costs currently are estimated to be about $5.5 million, though $1 million in a federal grant already is in hand. That money, which is split between the town and county, must be spent on local water infrastructure projects by September.

Late last month, representatives from Appomattox County and the town of Appomattox had the first sit-down discussion regarding the water line.

Rep.-elect Tom Perriello’s spokeswoman, Jessica Barba, said she didn’t know specifics of the Appomattox water line project. However, she said, “our district director is going to be calling every county administrator and city planner to set up meetings to talk with them about projects that are shovel-ready. We need to create jobs now and we need to make long-term investments in infrastructure and the economy that are going to be game-changers.”

Perriello will be sworn into office today after defeating Goode by 727 votes in the November election.

Roark also wrote that “recent layoffs at Thomasville Furniture, the county’s largest employer, have cost 140 of our citizens their livelihood at one of the worst possible times, thus making the water line project’s completion that much more important to the future of our economy.”

In addition to creating a reliable secondary water source for the town, which relies on an aging well system to serve its 1,700 residents, the public water line could serve the county’s industrial park and the county’s park, Roark wrote.

“All of these elements tie together for commercial, industrial, recreational and residential development and for the betterment of all citizens’ quality of life,” Roark wrote. “For the county, this project provides a lifeline to future economic prosperity that has passed our community by for so many years.”

Staff writer Ray Reed contributed to this report.