Bedford County is not joining an area effort to merge library services with neighboring localities and officials do not appear to be sold on other ideas for regional partnership.
The Board of Supervisors agreed Monday to not permit staff hours in exploring shared library services and management — a move that Region 2000’s Local Government Council says might lead to cost savings for Central Virginia localities.
The idea already has gained support among area library directors, said Bedford County Administrator Kathleen Guzi. It was the chief area she sought direction from the board in pursuing, which led a supervisor to ask if the staff time could be afforded in such a tight budget year.
Guzi said another way to look at it is asking, “Can we afford not to?”
“I hate to shut the door on an opportunity,” she said.
Representatives from nine area localities have met to discuss a number of partnership ideas and developed a list of services that could be regionalized, as landfills and jails are. Bedford County, like Amherst, does not participate in a regional landfill but does belong to the Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority.
Other ideas include regionalized medical services transportation, broadband authorities, erosion and sediment control, public utilities, animal shelters, dispatch services and property assessments.
“There’s a lot of things on this list I wouldn’t even think about going regional with,” Chairman Roger Cheek said.
Supervisor Chuck Neudorfer said he could support shared library services if area directors could produce evidence of cost savings but five other board members were against it.
Supervisor Dale Wheeler, the current longest active member, said the county borrowed money and “stuck our necks out there” to build up an adequate library system.
“I think we have something to be proud of,” Wheeler said. “We did it on our own … I’m a little bit leery of that word regional. It has to be a hard sell to get my vote.”
Supervisor Steve Arrington said the board is going to have to cut its own costs and services. He said he strongly feels that until a new budget for the next fiscal year is adopted the county should not spend “any money, any time, anywhere, we don’t have to.”
“Unlike the federal government,” Arrington said, “we’re required to have a balanced budget.”
In other business:
• Guzi said the National D-Day Memorial has asked permission to sell tickets at the Bedford Area Welcome Center. The center, located on Burks Hill Road in Bedford, is adjacent to the entrance of the memorial. Guzi said ticket sales at the center will replace how the memorial currently sells tickets on site and could benefit the tourism program in the future. One necessity in the change, she said, is to install a sign to notify visitors.
• Cheek said because of tight budget issues he is “not interested” in county participation in studies for a regional civic center to serve the Lynchburg area. Liberty University has recently asked Region 2000 to organize a study of its feasibility.
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