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As the budget gets put together, Cumberland County officials have several decisions to make. Part of that includes what repairs, renovations and overall purchases will be included in this year’s version. And that starts with the planning commission. 

The Cumberland Planning Commission held the first of several discussions on the proposed capital improvement plan during their Monday, March 17 meeting. A second discussion was held this week, on Monday, March 24. It’ll come as no surprise that the proposed courthouse renovations were up for discussion, along with millions of dollars in projects from the school district, parks and recreation and the sheriff’s office, among others. 

Counties and towns develop capital improvement plans to set up a schedule of when work will be done on a number of issues. Officials list all of the needs and requests from the various departments and then those get narrowed down. The pieces the planning commission and supervisors deem as important get higher priority, while others get pushed back several years.

The plan typically includes projects for the next 25 years, broken down into five year segments. Currently, Cumberland is working on the 2025-2030 segment, and looking to decide which of the requests should be moved up or kept in next year’s budget. Just like in planning and zoning cases, the planning commission makes an official recommendation, which is passed on to supervisors. The Cumberland supervisors will make a final decision on this list. 

What’s already in progress for Cumberland

But before we go into the list of requests, let’s first go over what’s currently being worked on. First is a repair of a sewer line along Route 60. An engineering firm has been brought in to work through how that issue can be fixed. That money will have to be pulled from the county’s fund balance, but it’s an issue that has to be corrected quickly. 

Second is a drainage issue identified at the schools. County and school staff worked to solve that problem, saving the county an estimated $200,000 that it would have cost if a firm had been hired. Third is the county radio system renovation, currently being worked on. The county’s current radio system is used by virtually every department, from the sheriff’s office to dispatch, fire and rescue administration, volunteer fire departments, EMS providers, animal protection and public works. And the problem, much like the issue Prince Edward has been dealing with, is the fact there are areas in the county where it’s hard to get a signal. That’s not the best when getting a 911 call or a request for backup. The new system will allow communication with up to 250 groups, which more than covers local needs.

Cumberland also developed a partnership with the Virginia State Police (VSP), to become a tenant on the VSP radio system, using their network. Cumberland purchased all of the needed equipment, but there are no new radio towers needed. They will use the current VSP towers in Cumberland, Louisa and Prince Edward for signal. Cumberland needs to design the footings for the towers, but the state police will handle setting everything else up. The goal is to have everything installed and the system active by late summer or early fall. 

Park renovations are also underway, with renovations at the baseball and softball fields. A solar project approved by the county in 2021 is starting to make its yearly payments and that $100,000 will help cover the work, along with $36,000 from the governor’s office for Luther P. Jackson Park. 

What’s being considered? 

So now let’s talk about the requests for the upcoming budget. We’ll start with the one that’s by far the most controversial, the proposed courthouse renovation. A request is in the budget for $1.5 million, to cover architectural and engineering services, as well as design services for the project. Cumberland County Administrator Derek Stamey emphasized that the $37 million number will not be the final price tag.

“We don’t know how much it’s gonna cost,” Stamey said. “I know the sticker shock of $37 million is tough, but we’re not saying that’s what the courthouse is going to cost. That’s what the conceptual design presented by our architectural firm told us. We still have to fine tune that.” 

By fine tune, Stamey said he meant look at a smaller expansion than originally proposed, without as many new design components as it had included. He also said the county is looking at the options for a public-private partnership, which could also reduce costs. This $1.5 million would cover the cost of all the engineering and design work going on. That design process would take at least a year to complete, he estimated. 

On the school district side of things, there’s a list of things being requested. There’s $1.1 million being asked for the elementary school, to fix the roof. The roof at Cumberland Elementary is from the original 1996 build. It’s labeled as a high priority, needing to be completed within the next two to three years. There’s also $150,000 being asked for restrooms and a concession stand facility at the football field, $150,000 for an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible playground, $400,000 for athletic field lighting. Currently, the football and baseball fields are not lit. 

Looking at Parks, Public Works 

Part of the request for Luther P. Jackson Park is a $1.3 million renovation of the gym roof. The gym has a flat original roof, with an A-frame installed on top of it. That A-frame roof has started to fail. Parks and Rec also requested $439,000 for work on Bear Creek Connector Trail. 

Staff plans to keep looking at roofing options, as well as the possibility of some grant funding to help cover the cost. If it’s not fixed, then the roof will continue to deteriorate and eventually the county will need to do a full replacement. 

On the Public Works side, there’s a request for $50,000 to improve the fencing at the public works and animal shelter, with another $100,000 for shelter renovations. This would be adding more adoption space, as well as a commercial washer and dryer. Stamey said he’s working with state lawmakers to see if money from the Envigo lawsuit could be used to cover the cost of this.  

Other requests include $50,000 for new paving at the Randolph transfer station, to clean up potholes and other paving issues. There are requests for $100,000 for repairs of the library roof, which has reached its life expectancy; $150,000 for repairs on the old jail roof and $500,000 for a public works shop remodel. This would include replacing existing deteriorating structures that house equipment and personnel. Currently the County uses multiple structures as well as the Shell Building to store equipment. 

Next time, we’ll take a look at the fire and police requests, as well as an initial ranking from planning commission members.