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Special Called Board of Supervisors Meeting (Wednesday, October 29, 2025)
Northumberland County, Virginia
Members Present:
James M. Long, Richard F. Haynie, James W. Brann, Chip Williams, AC Fisher, Jr. Other Staff Present:
Mr. Luttrell Tadlock, County Administrator
Mr. Drew Basye, Assistant County Administrator
Ms. Morgan Wilson, Executive Assistant
Mr. Carl Hayden, IT Technician
1. Opening of Meeting 12:00P.M.
Information: A. Call to Order
The special monthly meeting was convened by Chairman Haynie and held at the
Northumberland Courthouse located at 220 Judicial Place, Heathsville, VA 22473.
2. Update from Northumberland County Public Schools
Information: A. School Finance Update
Dr. Anne Curran, Finance Director, provided a PowerPoint presentation for the Board regarding their actions to date, concerns/opportunities for improvement, current process/procedure updates and future actions. The full presentation can be accessed in board docs.
Supervisor Williams asked if the Board should consider keeping Ms. O’Bier for the month of November to help Ms. Swann transition and to ensure that teachers get paid on time. Dr. Curran stated that she’d like the Board to consider keeping her until January so that Ms. Swann can shadow her in November and then Ms. O’Bier can watch her perform the work in December and make sure she is doing it correctly.
Supervisor Williams then asked about the school’s Title One spending for “personal use.” Dr. Curran clarified that the spending isn’t for personal use, but it was spent on things they’d personally like to buy for the schools. Dr. Pica stated that she has more details on this that she will present later.
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Vice Chairman Brann asked what reports Dr. Curran needs access to that UHY has. Dr. Curran stated that she wants the reports that show what UHY did at the financial close of the fiscal year.
Vice Chairman Brann stated that Dr. Curran needs access to this. Additionally, he stated that Dr. Curran’s position is also Finance Director for the County so she should have a certain level of access to the RDA system. Mr. Brann stated that this should have already been done. Chairman Haynie asked what the Title One money is supposed to be spent on.
Dr. Curran stated that the bulk of it is going to be paying salaries and things associated with salaries, but there are other funds that could be used for other areas they’ve budgeted for. She explained that she’s unsure if the budget is tied to anything real so school members feel they can use the money for other things.
Chairman Haynie asked how much funding is in Title One monies.
Dr. Curran stated $468,000.
Chairman Haynie asked about the piles of paper they mentioned. He asked what those piles consist of.
Dr. Curran stated that there are piles of accounts payable and purchase order papers lying around on the floor. Dr. Pica stated that most of it looks to be closed out paperwork, but yesterday they found a W-2 form laying around so it’s unclear. They explained that they won’t know until they go through all the papers and then they want to put a concise strategy around filing. Chairman Haynie then asked about the fax machine lines.
Dr. Curran stated that the fax machine lines are either owned by Verizon or AT&T so they’re receiving charges from both companies. She explained that their IT Director is going to try to get Breezeline on those so the school will only receive one bill.
Chairman Haynie asked about their VISA cards.
Dr. Curran stated they’re closing all VISA cards and re-issuing them to the appropriate staff. Dr. Curran then brought attention to the purchase of candy at the school.
Chairman Haynie stated that the purchase of candy should be the teachers’ responsibility.
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Dr. Curran agreed and stated if the teacher wants to pay for the dental bills… as she doesn’t believe it’s an appropriate incentive every single time.
Dr. Pica explained that she is going through each one of the recommendations from the forensic audit report to verify what’s been done and if it hasn’t, they are figuring out what controls can be put into place to make sure it gets done. She thanked Demetrice Samuels, stating that by the end of the week they should have another $40,000 in past due bills out the door and paid, making it roughly $300,000 of past due bills paid since September 19, 2025.
Dr. Pica stated on October 7, 2025 they received confirmation that there were no more FY25 invoices to be processed. She held up a folder with more FY25 invoices that she found, one of which was for UHY’s services.
Additionally, Dr. Pica shared her spending analysis and stated that she’s gone back as far as 2017 in RDA to identify what was paid out of each line item and she is shocked that her tax dollars were being spent in this manner. She explained that over millions of dollars were spent with Amazon and VISA, candy, gift cards and at Unitea coffee shop in Warsaw. She discussed their purchase order process going forward and how they will start a centralized ordering process as well. Dr. Pica then presented her budget guidance proposal for the upcoming fiscal year. Ms. Dodson commented on the FY25 unpaid invoices and stated that they need to be paid and tracked in the new fiscal year, and when the auditor comes, they will accrue it back and give the County that money back for FY26. She also reminded the Board that the County gave the school $40,000 to pay UHY for their services.
Dr. Pica stated that she’s on a mission to find out what the $40,000 was actually used for if UHY didn’t pay their own invoice when they were in charge of the school finances.
Action, Information: B. Third Quarterly Appropriation Request
Dr. Pica explained that they need to pay the Governor’s School and to purchase DARE t-shirts so they need more money from the third quarterly appropriation to be appropriated to the second quarter.
Motion to approve another portion of the third quarterly appropriation for the School Board in the amount of $55,690 to line item 30-6000-6100 (Instruction).
Motion by: Chip Williams, second by: James M. Long.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried
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Aye: James M. Long, Richard F. Haynie, James W. Brann, Chip Williams, AC Fisher, Jr. Action, Information: C. Transfer of Funds - School Board Request
Dr. Pica stated that their facilities manager is going to do a bulk buy of paper and the money should not be coming out of the instruction category for districtwide supplies. The money needs to be moved to the Administration and Health category.
Motion to approve a transfer of funds for the School Board in the amount of $7,800 from line item 30-6000-6100 (Instruction) to line item 30-6000-6200 (Administration & Health) to support bulk purchasing.
Motion by: James M. Long, second by: James W. Brann.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried
Aye: James M. Long, Richard F. Haynie, James W. Brann, Chip Williams, AC Fisher, Jr. Chairman Haynie asked if Dr. Pica believes the school will stay within their budget or if they are going to exceed the budget this year.
Dr. Pica stated she believes they will stay within because if spending gets close to the line, she won’t authorize anymore spending and she will have to discuss it with Dr. Curran. Chairman Haynie stated that the school needs to learn to spend within their budget. Dr. Pica stated that the County at large needs to learn to spend within their budget.
3. County Administrator Items
Vice Chairman Brann asked if Chief Keyser could come up to discuss some of his concerns related to the fire department.
Chief Phillip Keyser shared his concerns on their aging fire department and their need for help regarding recruitment, retention, and training. He explained that there’s a big difference between being a paid firefighter and being a volunteer. Mr. Keyser stated that the training required for firefighter 1 takes over 150 hours to complete and the Virginia Department of Fire Programs is not very sympathetic in that regard. He stated that a grant writer would be helpful because there are grants out there that they don’t have time to apply for.
Supervisor Long asked about the age limit allowable in the fire department.
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Chief Keyser stated that they will allow people in at 16 years old and there is no upper age limit. Vice Chairman Brann would like the County to look into the SAFER grant through FEMA and apply for it for both fire departments.
The Board discussed advertising the County’s need for a volunteer grant writer in the newspaper and in a new portal through river counties.
Information: A. Emergency Services - Pay and Leave Comparison Presentation
EMS Chief Bailey stated that some employees have voiced some pay and leave concerns, so he presented a PowerPoint presentation to the Board to help address their concerns. Chief Bailey presented their current pay rates in comparison to the neighboring counties as well as the current annual/vacation and sick leave accrual in comparison to the neighboring counties. Mr. Bailey shared his recommendations and asked that the Board consider some pay-scale changes as well as leave changes. The full presentation can be accessed in board docs.
County Administrator Tadlock stated that the Board asked about the Hazardous Duty multiplier of 1.85%, so Ms. Dodson explained that the County’s rate would jump to 13.72 in comparison to the current 12.88 on total payroll. Ms. Dodson stated that they suggested the County wait until the new rates come out before making a decision as they are going to start making decisions on all locality rates and schools in November. The new rates will come out in January or February and will be locked in for two years.
Information: B. Reassessment Office Location
Mr. Tadlock stated that after speaking with the Commissioner of Revenue and the Superintendent of Schools, there’s a possibility of using some space in the current School Board office (meeting room) to hold the assessment hearings. Staff is still working to secure this room for the hearings. Supervisor Fisher asked what the old Juvenile detention office is used for as he was wondering if that office could be used to hold the hearings.
Mr. Tadlock explained that is being used for the same purpose and he’s unsure if they’d allow that from a security standpoint, but he will look into this space as well.
Information: C. FY27 Budget Discussion
Mr. Tadlock stated as Dr. Pica mentioned there was some information sent out previously to the Board related to the budget schedule and the form of budget submission. He explained that the
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County currently has a different submission format, so if the Board would like to move forward, we can do that, it would just take some time to reformat some things.
Vice Chairman Brann stated he’d like to see the County go with the new format. He asked how the County Finance Director role is going to fit into the budget process this year. Mr. Tadlock stated that would be up to the Board, but he would need clear direction as far as administrative duties and expectations for the new roles.
Vice Chairman Brann would like Dr. Pica to come present her suggestions and ideas regarding the budget before the Board makes a decision. He’d like to Board to set up a meeting to have further discussion on this.
Mr. Tadlock stated in the interest of the budget schedule, if the Board would like to move forward with the budget format presented to them, he asked that they take some sort of action so staff can start the transition as the Board already approved the old budget format. Vice Chairman Brann would like to see it include what each department has left over because if the County is looking to get to a zero-based budget, it’s not about what you want, it’s about what you spend.
Chairman Haynie asked Mr. Tadlock how much trouble it is to send out the form.
Mr. Tadlock stated that the current format is based on the approved budget and goes back three years. The new format asks for FY25 requests, so Ms. Dodson would have to pull some reports for each department. He stated it’s not hard, it would just take some time to gather the information.
Chairman Haynie stated that there’s a lot of things the Board needs to discuss. Mr. Tadlock asked if the Board would like them to pull this information together for just one department right now to give the Board so they’ll have an idea of what they’re looking at. The Board agreed to have staff pull this information for one department and then they will move forward in how they’d like to proceed.
4. Items Related to Closed Meeting
Action, Information: A. Convene into Closed Meeting
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Motion to Action: A. Convene into Closed Meeting: convene into closed meeting as permitted by Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711 (A)(1),(29); 1. Discussion, consideration, or interviews of prospective candidates for employment; assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, disciplining, or resignation of specific public officers, appointees, or employees of any public body; and evaluation of performance of departments or schools of public institutions of higher education where such evaluation will necessarily involve discussion of the performance of specific individuals. Any teacher shall be permitted to be present during a closed meeting in which there is a discussion or consideration of a disciplinary matter that involves the teacher and some student and the student involved in the matter is present, provided that the teacher makes a written request to be present to the presiding officer of the appropriate board. Nothing in this subdivision, however, shall be construed to authorize a closed meeting by a local governing body or an elected school board to discuss compensation matters that affect the membership of such body or board collectively. 29. Discussion of the award of a public contract involving the expenditure of public funds, including interviews of bidders or offerors, and discussion of the terms or scope of such contract, where discussion in an open session would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body.
Motion by: Chip Williams, second by: AC Fisher, Jr.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried
Aye: James M. Long, Richard F. Haynie, James W. Brann, Chip Williams, AC Fisher, Jr. Action, Information: B. Reconvene into Open Meeting
Motion to reconvene into open session.
Motion by: James W. Brann, second by: James M. Long.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried
Aye: James M. Long, Richard F. Haynie, James W. Brann, Chip Williams, AC Fisher, Jr. Action, Information: C. Certification of Closed Meeting
Motion that the Northumberland Board of Supervisors return to Public Meeting and certify by roll call vote that only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, and as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed or considered during the closed meeting. The vote on the motion was passed by a roll call vote as follows:
Aye: Richard F. Haynie, AC Fisher, Jr., James M. Long, James W. Brann, Charles H. Williams
Motion by: James W. Brann, second by: James M. Long.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried
Aye: James M. Long, Richard F. Haynie, James W. Brann, Chip Williams, AC Fisher, Jr.
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5. Closing of Meeting
Vice Chairman Brann announced that the Boo Bash will be held at the YMCA due to the weather.
Supervisor Williams stated that the Menhaden industry had to go before the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Committee yesterday in Delaware and were facing some pretty drastic cuts. He reported that with all things considered, they came back remarkably well from everyone against them. Mr. Williams stated they suffered a small cut, but it’s one he believes they can live with. Action: A. Carry Over
Motion to carry over to the special meeting on November 6, 2025 at 5:30 p.m.
Motion by: James W. Brann, second by: Chip Williams.
Final Resolution: Motion Carried
Aye: James M. Long, Richard F. Haynie, James W. Brann, Chip Williams, AC Fisher, Jr.