BEDFORD — Bedford County officials adopted a state-mandated drought ordinance Monday that ensures protection of public water supplies in severe conditions.
The Board of Supervisors approved the conservation plan, with member Gary Lowry absent, that sets forth restrictions whenever an emergency is declared.
The ordinance enacts a series of restrictions, among them: watering shrubbery, washing automobiles and adding no more than five gallons of water to a swimming pool.
“At some point in the future if you want to make it more restrictive, you have the ability,” County Administrator Kathleen Guzi told the board.
The Bedford County Public Service Authority, which has 8,000 water customers, would enforce the restrictions.
Guzi said the ordinance covers as many exceptions and appeals as legally possible.
Several supervisors raised an issue of restricting well use if the need arises, though no official action was taken in that direction Monday.
“I don’t really want the county to tell me I can’t pump water out of my well,” responded Supervisor Roger Cheek. “Most people know when it’s dry.”
In other business:
- After a public hearing, the board voted to postpone action on a special-use permit for Southside Electric Cooperative to build an electric substation on Dickerson Mill Road. Supervisors agreed that the five acres near Virginia 24 was too close to neighbors and instructed county staff members to negotiate further with the company to find a solution or alternative site.
- John Aldridge of Brown, Edwards and Company in Roanoke presented the board with an audit of the county’s past fiscal year. He issued a “clean opinion” on local spending and said the firm reviewed 50 percent of the county’s federal funding, which totaled roughly $5.5 million.
- The board agreed to send a list of local legislative priorities to state lawmakers for next month’s General Assembly session. Despite a dismal budget forecast, Supervisor Chuck Neudorfer said the county “should just be on record” in making requests heard.
- The board honored William Calvin Updike, a former supervisor who served the county for 21 years into the early 1990s. Updike died Saturday at Bedford Memorial Hospital. Several former and current county officials attended Updike’s funeral Monday.
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