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Now that the Cumberland County Public Library is merging with the Central Virginia Regional Library, changes are taking place to keep things running smoothly.

The Central Virginia Regional Library staff is now working at the library daily. The business manager, IT person and librarian from the Regional Library are in Cumberland to help the library get back on track. 

“Our staff here in Cumberland joined with the Buckingham and Farmville staff in Farmville for an in-service day on Friday training and actually just getting to know one another,” Glenn Mozingo, chair of the library board of trustees, told commissioners during their November meeting. “It was very well received by our folks. I think it probably helped put them at ease.”

The board of trustees will have their final meeting on Dec. 18, where the true merger will take place of the Cumberland County Public Library to the Central Virginia Regional Library. All loose ends will be taken care of by then or at the meeting. 

Training continues with Fire and EMS

At the November meeting, Fire Chief Andy Aigner also announced a change coming to the fire districts. Starting in January, the Cumberland Fire District 52 will be called the Courthouse District, as they are separating the EMS Station from the fire station. 

“Everyone now just refers to it as the old EMS station so we are giving it its own identity,” said Aigner. “I felt it was very important to leave the volunteers with a Cumberland name, so that’s what we did.”

The number of EMS volunteers is growing significantly and at a rate Aigner claims he can’t keep up with during a 20-hour work week. To keep up, he appointed some officers on the volunteer side to help manage the volunteers. He is hoping to get more volunteers in the system to staff off hours for the off stations. 

When it comes to training, the Randolph station had CPR training. Now they are preparing for an EMS class for volunteers in January with Scott Grant, who works for the contract company ERT. Grant will get a scholarship for the volunteers so the class will be free for County volunteers. Those in that class will get trained in emergency vehicle operators course, CPR, and mass casualty modules 1 and 2. This will give volunteers all the training needed to operate as an EMT in the County. 

Cumberland County Public Schools

Superintendent Dr. Chip Jones reported a full month for the school district as teachers from the district were recognized for their hard work. Elementary school teacher Pamela Stepco will be recognized by the board of education as the Milken Award recipient for the Commonwealth. Todd Meinhard, Katie Pauley and Emily Overstreet earned Teacher of the Year at the high school, middle school and elementary school and will go on to the District Teacher of the Year competition.

Students also stayed busy this past month with various activities. A few of the activities the students participated in were field trips, a panel with the superintendent, the Five County Fair, spirit week, trunk or treat, college tours and the homecoming football game, which Cumberland lost.

“The game may not have been the way we wanted it, but the food was,” said Jones. 

Students are now preparing for the annual winter concert and to take part in the Betty Scales Day of Service. 

VDOT prepares for winter

Brian Locker from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) gave the latest update on what is taking place in Cumberland.

For regular maintenance, all mowing is done in the county and they are still working on pipe replacements and trash removal. The four-way stop at Route 45 is complete as the final markings were installed. The location previously had temporary markings in September but is now finalized after hearing feedback from residents. At the request of Chairman Brain Stanley, Locker will look into the camera at the intersection to see if it has had an effect on the behavior of drivers. 

“From my understanding, there haven’t been many incidents there,” said Locker. 

For winter weather preparation, even though there are two vacancies in the Cumberland VDOT headquarters there are contract personnel who will help through that. VDOT is as prepared as it can be looking forward.