BY CATHY DYSON
King George County dispatchers spend time every night shift dealing with companies that want to tow vehicles after their drivers have been involved in accidents or arrested for drunken driving.
"It has become a constant and consistent, all the time, every-other-day problem," said County Attorney Matt Britton as he explained the situation to the Board of Supervisors this week. "It's interfering with the dispatchers' ability to do their jobs."
Britton asked the board to consider implementing a towing ordinance that would set up guidelines for how calls are dispatched.
The ordinance could address which companies are on the list, in what order they would be called and how much time they would have to respond.
The ordinance would affect towing requests by law enforcement only, not those by private citizens.
Maj. Steve Dempsey of the Sheriff's Office gave the supervisors names of citizens willing to work on guidelines.
Supervisors said they would consider the need for an ordinance.
Also at this week's meeting, the supervisors:
Heard that owners of less than 3 percent of county land had appealed recent reassessment notices.
The small number of appeals probably was due to the fact that overall property values are down 6 percent since the last general reassessment four years ago, said Mike Didawick, project manager for Blue Ridge Mass Appraisal Co. in Staunton.
Some residents didn't get reassessments because of a problem with the mailing company.
Anyone who didn't get a notice can call 540/775-3354.
Approved a rezoning request from Walker Sand and Stone to rezone a portion of its land from agricultural to trade so the company could store more mater-ials there.
In granting the request, supervisors praised the owners--Lewis, Dorothy and John Walker--for maintaining such a clean sand and gravel operation.
"They've done what they said they would do," said Supervisor Cedell Brooks. "They proved to be good neighbors and good business owners in the community."
Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com