electronic village of abingdon
"91st Day" Subcommittee
MINUTES
22 April 1998 12:00 Noon
The scheduled meeting of the Electronic
Village of Abingdon "91st Day" Subcommittee held in the Southwest
Virginia Higher Education Center was opened by Dr. F. H. Moore. There were
fourteen members present. These included:
F. H. Moore, Jr. Chairman
Steve Galyean
Jay Cox, Vice-Chairman
Jack White
Al Bradley, Secretary
Randy Robertson
Rachel Fowlkes
David Taverner
Steve Laek
Coni Patrick
John Mongle
Daveena Sexton
Burt Bassham
Bill Chaffin
The minutes of the 25 March, 1998 meeting were approved as
presented.
Dr. Moore gave an update of the latest General Assembly events. HB 335 had
been approved by both houses of the Legislature and sent to the Governor.
The Governor did not sign the bill, but suggested on 16 April 19, 1998 that
an amendment be added allowing local governments to partner with some
telecommunications provider for that purpose. Following that, on 21 April
19, 1998, Senator Reynolds of Martinsville reintroduced from the floor of
the senate the original bill with no telecommunications restrictions at all.
Therefore, the entire matter of Local Governments ability to provide
telecommunications services is back in the Legislature for an indefinite
period of time.
Discussion of new connections included completion of
connections to Big Brothers/Big Sisters, The Nature Conservancy and the
NetAccess-VPI Extension Service on West Valley Street. Bill Chaffin noted
that the Baptist Church on West Main Street was interested in a connection.
Al Bradley stated that the Town was looking into an extension of the EVA
system from the present terminus at Russell Road to the William King Arts
Center and the Washington County Administrative Offices, that would pass
almost right by the Baptist Church and connection to the church might be
made at that time.
The next item for discussion was that of the need of some
publicity effort to encourage others to share links with the EVA home page
at www.eva.org. Steve Galyean suggested that a very good venue for this
might be placement in the Washington County Chamber of Commerce Newsletter
as a reminder to businesses in particular, but that the Chamber publication
will not be sent out again for several months.
Randy Robertson, Town of Abingdon Information Services
Director, then explained the next proposed progression of the fiber optic
system to serve Johnston Memorial Hospital and environs to the North and
East. Mr. Robertson used a map generated from the Town's Geographic
Information System to illustrate his proposal. The fiber route discussed
would leave the existing system at Plumb Alley, travel via Pecan Street to
Valley street, crossing Valley Street to Oak Hill Street, and then along Oak
Hill Street and turning along an existing pole route into the rear of the
Hospital. Randy proposed to locate electronic apparatus within the hospital
that would facilitate the expansion of the EVA system to the North and to
the East from the Hospital. The proposed route would allow a permanent
connection to the Washington County Public Library. It was noted that grant
funds were being sought for this and other expansions including service to
the William King Arts Center and County Administrative offices on Academy
Drive and a progression to the East along Plumb Alley to accommodate medical
and other offices located in that vicinity.
An upcoming program on website creation to be conducted
by VPI&SU was discussed. This program is scheduled to take place on June
1-3 and on September 14-16 at the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned to
tours of the Higher Education Facility.
Respectfully Submitted,
Albert C. Bradley,
Secretary