The Shadow
CLIFTON FORGE — Clifton Forge and Alleghany County want to hire a public works director and share the cost.
“This is something that hasn’t been tried in this area before or perhaps in any other area,” Clifton Forge Town Manager Darlene Burcham said Tuesday night.
At a Nov. 6, meeting, the Alleghany County Board of Supervisors approved a memorandum of understanding allowing the joint endeavor to move forward.
“This is a very interesting and positive opportunity not only for Alleghany County, but also for the town of Clifton Forge,” County Administrator Jon Lanford said at the Nov. 6 meeting.
Lanford has been overseeing the county’s public works department since February 2016.
The county, like Clifton Forge, has been unable to recruit a public works director because of salary constraints.
“I don’t think that separately, Alleghany County or Clifton Forge can afford the candidate that they need,” said Shannon Cox, who represents the Boiling Springs District on the board of supervisors.
Cox works at the Virginia Employment Commission office in Covington.
Under the memorandum approved by the supervisors, the county and town will split the salary of the joint public works director.
The county and town public works departments will remain separate.
The public works director would handle administrative and supervisory responsibilities over both departments.
“Members of Clifton Forge Town Council are unanimous in being behind this proposal. We all think it is good for the area. We have been looking for a public works director for more than a year,” Mayor Jeff Irvine said.
Burcham said the recruitment process will begin immediately.
The agreement calls for the county and town to share a public works director for one year. There is an option to renew the agreement for up to four years.
“We will have to build this airplane as we are going into the first year,” Lanford said.
Clifton Forge Town Councilman Ron Goings lauded the agreement as an opportunity to spark more regional cooperation.
“Hopefully, this will be the beginning of more cooperative projects,” Goings said.
Goings said he is an advocate of governmental consolidation in the Alleghany Highlands.
