JONESVILLE, Va. — Lee Regional Hospital officials brought their concerns to the Lee County Board of Supervisors during the Board’s regular meeting Tuesday night.

Chairman Carl Bailey allowed the floor to Lee Regional Medical Center Representative Ron Prewitt. Prewitt, the “proud CEO and Administrator of Lee Regional Hospital” spoke first about his qualifications, and then praised the board of supervisors for their quality work and continuous cooperation.

Prewitt updated the board about the future of health care in Lee County, and discussed hospital budgets, potential facility improvements, hospital campaigning/advertising, staff commitment/reliability, customer service, patient care issues and quality of care concerns. Although Prewitt’s presentation was prevailingly optimistic and promising, he did admit that the hospital could face great complications in the future.

“As much as we are excited about what we are seeing happening and what we believe is going to happen, we also believe that there is going to be some tremendous obstacles out in front of us as a health care facility,” said Prewitt. “Because the face of health care is going to change and we don’t know how it’s going to change, but we believe that we will adopt change.”

Lee Regional Representative Genia Garret, who is in marketing and communications at the local medical center, also spoke at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. Garret commended the board for their recently implemented recycling program and presented the board with a check to sponsor 15 county recycling containers. “I think it’s a great program and Lee Regional is fully supportive of that,” Garret stated. Board Member Carl Bailey expressed great appreciation for the hospital’s generosity, and expressed thanks to the Lee Regional Representatives for their “involvement in the community.”

Also during the regular meeting, the following concerns were addressed:

Requests for street abandonments were addressed and will be considered for approval some time in August. Harold Hall is requesting the abandonment of a portion of Route 631 from his property line to dead end in the Big Hill area south of Dryden. Helen Lambert is requesting abandonment of a portion of First Avenue in Rose Hill that dead ends on Lambert property. David and Stephanie Hounshell of Flatwoods are requesting abandonment of roughly 800 feet of East Main Street, which runs parallel to Route 758. All street abandonments are awaiting approval by the board, and will be discussed further in the next meeting, in hopes of coming to a resolution for all involved.

VDOT Jonesville Residency Engineer James Parsons updated the board on a previous issue concerning the drainage problems facing the northern part of Dryden ball field.

“Frankly, I don’t see much we can do there,” Parsons explained. “There’s probably a hundred plus acres that drain into the area. It’s built basically in a hole and I just don’t see anything we can do there to help the situation.”

At the request of Chairman Bailey, Parsons was asked to expand on any new developments concerning Route 775, Poor Valley Road, in Rose Hill, Virginia. He informed the board that the “secondary unpaved budget” went to zero and confirmed that there is money still available for the 775 project in the Six-Year Plan, but he is uncertain of when the project will start and he is also unsure how long the job will take, since the current budget in unfavorable.

“In all reality, it will be a year from now before we get that done, I’m sure. It won’t happen fast,” said Parsons. “But at least this is one avenue that we can take to eventually get there.”

In response, Bailey stated, “We’ll appreciate you working miracles with nothing. I know that’s kind of hard to do.”

Several new board appointments were approved, including: Mark Dotson to Airport Advisory Committee; Betty Grabeel to the Mountain Empire Regional Business Incubator; Barlow Newman to Ninth District Development Financing.

In other business, the board took the following action:

• The Board approved Airport Terminal Pay Request No. Eleven in the amount of $6,627.60 to Pete Sumpter General Contractors.

• The Lee County Public Service Authority’s request to install a pump and haul sewage system at new office located at the landfill was approved.

• Board of Supervisors approved Hicok, Fern, Brown and Garcia’s proposed agreement for “accounting and consulting services regarding preparation of year end closing adjustments, and entries and trial balance financials for use by the auditor.” The Abingdon-based accounting and consulting firm’s projected estimate was $17,800 for their services.

• Board approved the DEQ, Department of Environmental Quality, Consent Order in order “to resolve certain violations at the closed landfill facility.” The consent order includes a charge of $11,130.00. A total of $8,347.50 will be placed into a Supplemental Environmental Program project within the county. The plan, which is in the developmental stages, is for the Ewing Decentralized Sewer project and it focuses on servicing “homes with failing or non-existent sewage treatment systems.” All remaining money will be paid to the state of Virginia.

• The Independence Day Celebration Funding Request for the town of Pennington Gap, Virginia was denied on Tuesday. “We’re just facing tough economic times here, right now,” Bailey proclaimed. “We’re just now building our reserve back from being broke and we’re trying to be responsible here.”

• Bids for Renovations for Registrar’s Office in Jonesville, Virginia were discussed, but no decision has been made at this time.

Bailey also wanted to inform all local residents about the festivities taking place at Wilderness Road State Park, in Gibson Station, Virginia, this Saturday from 12 noon to 6 p.m. It is the 4th Annual Relay for Life event and everyone is encouraged to come out, have fun and support a good cause. There will be plenty of food, live music and much more!

Adam Young is a correspondent for the Middlesboro Daily News. Contact him via e-mail at editor@middlesborodailynews.com.