JONESVILLE, Va. — Two roads in Jonesville were abandoned by the Lee County Board of Supervisors Tuesday night, despite two parties opposing the decision. A public hearing was held Tuesday at 5 p.m. in the General District Courtroom where two roads near Friendship Baptist Church in Jonesville were proposed to be abandoned.

Arnold D. and Stacey Kirk, who live in Georgia, could not attend the hearing, but wrote a letter, saying they opposed the closing because they owned adjoining land to the property and had plans to use the right-of-ways. They also said the closing would depreciate the land’s value. Curtis Short also opposed the closing, saying he used the roads and their closing would decrease his land value. However, Kina Sizemore also owns the adjacent land and said she wanted to see the roads closed. She said she had never seen anyone use the roads and said their closing would allow her to use the land as pasture.

Supervisor Jerry Harris made a motion to abandon the roads, and Sup. Larry Mosley seconded it.

During VDOT’s report, Jonesville Residency Engineer James Parsons thanked the Supervisors for attending the hearing to protest the sharp cutbacks for Virginia’s VDOT services and possible Jonesville residency closure. He said Richmond, Va. has been “surprisingly quiet after the meeting.”

Chairman Carl Bailey asked Parsons to take a look at a sink hole in front of Thomas Walker High School in the west-bound lane.

Corbin Stone, from Robinson, Farmer, Cox Associates, presented the Fiscal Year 2007-8 Annual Audit Report. Stone said the total revenue for Lee Co. in 2008 was $22.5 million. The total expenditures for 2008 were $22.2 million.

Stone elaborated on the state of Virginia’s retirement system and said that Virginia, in a cost-cutting measure, underfunded retirement for past the 10 years. He said that because of that, Lee County’s employee retirement was underfunded by about $1.2 million, according to the last actuarial study. The school board’s non-professional employees were underfunded by about $4.5 million. He said that the school board’s professional employees were also underfunded, but that information is kept confidential by the state.

Stone clarified that the county did nothing wrong and paid the amounts they were advised. But he warned the Supervisors about the future.

“What that means going forward is that you’re going to face a pretty significant liability,” said Stone, regarding increasing rates. “We’re going to see big increases in those VRS (Virginia Retirement System) rates or we’re going to have pretty substantial changes to the retirement system.”

Stone said the increases were something to be aware of, especially if the Supervisors were planning their budget in advance for a couple of years.

Dr. Richard Phillips, VP of Academic and Student Services at Mountain Empire Community College, gave an update what the school has accomplished. He also encouraged students to take advantage of AIMS scholarships, which pay for students’ entire tuition at the college, and possibly even four years at UVA Wise. He said only 13 percent of students take advantage of the program. The Supervisors said more kids need to utilize the program.

Matt Tumlin, President of Commonwealth Real Estate Appraisal Group, LLC, gave an update on his company’s land reassessments. He said he’s been seeing increases in land values and home values. The price of land in particular is increasing 2-4 percent per year.

A sink hole at the Thomas Walker public swimming pool was investigated by Bobby Lane of The Lane Group and found to be too dangerous to open the pool at this time. Everyone agreed that the pool would remain closed until a specialist could survey the area and make sure more sink holes aren’t near the pool. A more detailed report will follow.

The Supervisors approved the following:

• The “moral obligation” for Ocoonita Water Project Funding

• Red Hill/Poor Valley sewer project CDBG Documents

• Administrative agreement for Red/Poor Valley sewer

• Appalachian Juvenile Commission Grant Continuation

• Appalachian Juvenile Commission Special Funding Grant

• Registrar Office Space Renovations A/E agreement

• Byrne Justice Assistance Grant

• Terminal Building pay request #10

• Authorization for Bulldozer purchase

• Quarterly Dept. reports

Stephen Woodward is a Staff Writer for the Daily News. He may be contacted at swoodward@middlesborodailynews.com.