December 30, 2022 Issue of the Gloucester County Town Crier

December 30, 2022

A publication by Gloucester's Department of Community Engagement and Public Information

Child Falls into Retention Pond

The Gloucester Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad, Inc. is urging everyone to stay off of frozen ponds and waterways. The ice is not thick enough to support a weight of a person.

GVFRS responded Dec. 29 to a child that fell into this retention pond near the Patriot's Walk Subdivision. Thankfully, first responders reached the child in enough time to pull them out of the frigid water safely.

If a pet or person gets in trouble on the ice on a frozen pond or lake, call 911 immediately!

Gloucester County Continues to Request Citizen Input on Several Topics

Gloucester County has launched a new digital community engagement site to inform and engage residents about current and upcoming plans and initiatives. The County is requesting citizen input regarding potential changes to the County’s zoning ordinance and on how to improve and enhance existing opioid recovery programs.

To participate in the current surveys regarding Zoning or the Opioid Crisis, click on the images above. For more information regarding the citizen engagement tool, contact Gloucester’s Community Engagement & Public Information Department, at qsheppard@gloucesterva.info or 804-693-5730, or Deputy County Administrator Steve Wright, at swright@gloucesterva.info or 804-693-4042.

Gloucester Becomes a “Virginia Values Veterans” Certified Employer

Gloucester County’s Human Resources Department is pleased to announce that the County has recently become a V3 “Virginia Values Veterans” Certified Employer. In doing so, the government organization has made a commitment to hire veterans into its workforce.

As part of the certification process, the County’s Human Resources staff learned why it is a good business decision to recruit, hire, train, and retain Veterans. The program assists employers in implementing nationally recognized best practices in recruiting, hiring, and retaining highly skilled and dependable Veterans.

The V3 Program is an official Commonwealth of Virginia Program and is organized under the Veterans Education, Training, and Employment (VETE) division within the Virginia Department of Veterans Services (DVS), an agency of the Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs.

“This has been a priority of ours for quite some time,” said Elaine Johnson, Gloucester’s Director of Human Resources. “It’s a big step in letting prospective employees and the community know how much we value our veterans and understand what assets they can be to our organization.”

For more information on the program, visit https://dvsv3.com/about or contact Gloucester Human Resources at 804-693-5690. For Gloucester County’s current job opportunities, visit https://www.gloucesterva.info/347/Job-Opportunities.

(Photo courtesy Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal)

Progress continues on the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (VATI) grant in Gloucester and Mathews Counties

Connectivity to properties located in the northern part of Gloucester identified for the grant is currently underway. This is an important step in the right direction for expanded broadband access across the County.

Gloucester residents who would like to be placed on the waiting list, or are interested in learning more, can go to https://openbb.net/gloucesterco.

Mathews residents can go to https://openbb.net/mathewsco.

Need to get out of the house after the frigid temps and all the holiday food?

With a nice warmup expected over the next few days, the Gloucester Point Beach Park is a perfect place to catch some beautiful scenery and get some fresh air! Check out this video captured by the County's drone!

Deadline Extended to Schedule Administrative Appeals on Reassessment

The Gloucester County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously during a special meeting Dec. 14 to extend the deadline for citizens to schedule administrative appeal appointments with the Assessor’s Office to contest their most recent reassessments. The deadline to make an appointment for this administrative appeal portion of the process was Dec. 31; and has been extended until Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023.

To receive information regarding making an Administrative Appeal, call the Assessment Office at 804-693-1325 or e-mail assessment@gloucesterva.info. If property owners are dissatisfied with the departmental (administrative) review, they may appeal to the Board of Equalization (BOE), which is a five-member citizen board appointed by the Circuit Court of Gloucester County. The citizen may elect to go directly to the BOE to appeal, and the deadline to do so is February 28, 2023. For more information on the BOE process, call 804-693-1325.

A final level of appeal is to file a petition in the Circuit Court of Gloucester County. For more information, call the Clerk of the Circuit Court at 804-693-2502.

To learn more about the reassessment process, listen to the County Assessor on the Current Conversations podcast by clicking here.

An Important Message from Dominion Energy

Although temperatures are warming after last weekend's frigid weather, Dominion encourages customers to reduce energy usage during extreme temperatures to help protect the stability of the electric system.

Customers can do several things to reduce their energy use:

Set thermostats to 68 degrees or lower.
Turn off non-essential internal and external lights.
Unplug non-essential appliances and devices.
Limit the use of major power-consuming equipment such as dishwashers, washers and dryers.
Ensure HVAC vents are open and unobstructed.